Taking control of his life
by Katastrofe
Summary: After Harry hears the prophecy from Dumbledore, he decides to take control of his life instead of being Dumbledore's puppet. He receives help from Tonks, leaves England and starts to train. This also shows the developing relationship between Harry and Tonks. (Rated M for some of the further chapters)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

Harry was just returning from the headmaster's office after being told of the prophecy when an owl approached him in the hallway with a parcel attached to his leg. Normally it wasn't strange for an owl to bring letters and parcels, but Harry had never before seen an owl to deliver something in the middle of the hallway. Sometimes something got delivered in the common room, but otherwise it normally was in the great hall.

That was why Harry approached it warily. He used the spells he had learned from Mad-Eye to check if there was something strange with it. After that he levitated the letter that was attached to it and unsealed it with his wand.

 _Dear Harry_

 _I won't go into too much detail, but in this parcel is a mirror like Sirius had send you. This one is connected only with a mirror I have._

 _It is protected with a password, the same as a famous map you definitely know of. Just tap it while you say it._

 _I expect you to contact me regularly, so if you wish to talk, I'm here._

 _If you wish, I won't mention the recent events._

 _Tonks_

A small smile appeared on Harry's face. He had gotten to know Tonks a little bit over the summer and Christmas holidays. He was glad she had thought about him.

Trotting up to the seventh floor, he paced three times before the entrance of the room of requirement. Once inside, there was a little cozy room that had appeared. He went to sit in an armchair and opened the parcel.

He felt a little pang that he hadn't thought about the mirror Sirius had given him, but this time he wouldn't do the same thing. He tapped his wand on the mirror and said "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good"

Waiting for a few seconds before the blurry view clear up and Tonks' face appeared.

"Wotcher Harry. I'm glad you contacted me"

"How are you Tonks? Could I talk to you?" Harry asked.

Tonks' nodded "I'm fine, St Mungo's patched me up quite rapidly. Is there something wrong?"

This time Harry nodded and he asked, doing his very best to compose his emotions "What do you think of the headmaster?"

Harry's piercing emerald green eyes begged her to tell the truth. "Honestly I don't know. I don't agree with some of his decisions" admitted Tonks.

"You aren't the only one" Harry said and objects started to flow around him since he couldn't control his magic with the anger he felt.

"Harry calm down, what happened"

"That meddlesome old fool" Harry grumbled.

"Look Harry, I need you to calm down. Take a deep breath" When she saw that less and less objects were levitating around him she said again "Good, now try to calm down a little bit more and then tell me what happened"

Harry closed his eyes for a moment and managed to keep his magic under control. "I just returned from the headmaster's office. He just told me about the prophecy. It basically says that if I don't kill Voldemort, he will kill me"

Tonks nodded, trying to keep calm hearing that information as she could only imagine how it could affect Harry only a few hours after his godfather had died. "He just told you this?"

"Yes and he also explained to me I have to go back to the Dursleys, so I could be protected from Voldemort through blood wards, but he doesn't understand that …" all of a sudden, Harry clamped up.

Tonks noticed this change and for the first time, she finally pieced together some things that she had found odd about Harry "What doesn't he understand" she gently probed.

Harry really debated with himself, could he tell her? Every time he told someone it hadn't ended well, or they didn't listen, like Dumbledore.

Tonks saw his inner battle "Harry look at me" she ordered him and when he did so she said "Do you trust me?"

He casted his eyes down for a moment before he looked back at her "Yes, but you've figured it our already, didn't you?"

"I think I just did, but I need you to tell me" urged Tonks.

"He might keep me safe from Voldemort with the blood wards, but he can't keep me safe from my relatives there and he doesn't want to listen if I tell him about it"

"We are going to figure something out Harry, but I won't let you go back to them and I won't let you be manipulated again by Dumbledork"

Her nickname for the headmaster made Harry genuinely smile, which surprised him a little, but it felt good all the same.

"Now, you will first go to sleep, because you look like a wreck and probably feel like one, just like me. I'm on leave for the next week so you can contact me every moment you want, alright? We'll try to think about something we can do"

Harry nodded.

"And try to talk to your friends, not about this, I wouldn't mention this to be honest, but you should try to talk about what happened in the ministry"

"I'll try" Harry promised.

"That's all I can ask for"

"Thank you Tonks, you're the first person to believe me and also thank you for not pushing me"

"You're welcome Harry" and she looked him straight in the eyes to show him she meant it.

"What do I do to close the connection"

"Tap your wand again and say the closing spell of the map. See you Harry"

The next time Harry blinked, the mirror was blotched again. "Mischief managed" and he tapped the mirror. He carefully placed it his pocket.

He went back to the Gryffindor tower. The moment he went through the portrait of the fat lady, he was immediately tackled by Hermione who was shooting questions about how he was doing. Harry ignored this, but saw that Ron, Ginny, Neville and even Luna where also waiting for them.

"If you don't mind, I would like to go to my bed. I know you're concerned, but for the moment I really need some sleep" he told them.

Hermione who had released him from her hug said "Are you sure you don't want to talk about it. I wouldn't want you to bottle it all inside, you always do this and you shut us out. You should talk to us about Sirius"

Harry cringed hearing Sirius' name, but tried to ignore the pang of guilt and the pain in his chest. "Hermione please, it's been a very long day" pleaded Harry.

Neville, seeing the pleading in his eyes got up and laid a hand on Hermione's shoulder "Let him sleep"

Harry didn't wait for an answer. He just passed Hermione and went upstairs to the fifth year boys dormitories. He hoped it wouldn't be a trend for the next six weeks or he'd kill himself rather from the smothering than the grief.

After quickly changing, he went to lay in his bed, recalling everything that had happened since he had his vision earlier that day. He knew he should have trained better to shield his mind, but he was convinced that Snape's technique and grudge actually withheld him from learning the actual skill. Also, if they had explained him why it was necessary or what they were protecting and stuff, he might have thought twice about barging into the ministry.

It was only a couple of hours and he already missed his godfather. Not really his presence, since he sadly hadn't had the chance to enjoy that very often, but more the fact that he knew he could write a letter to Sirius if he had any problems. He was there for Harry, unconditionally.

He felt rather guilty that his godfather had died, because Sirius had tried to save him. Although many other parties shared a part of the guilt, he knew that if he hadn't let himself being tricked, Sirius might still be there.

Harry heard footsteps coming upstairs, so he guessed that Ron and Neville were coming upstairs. Quickly shutting his curtains and casting a silencing spell, he let himself fall into the warm covers of his bed. Not that he was able to sleep much.

The rest of the night was spent blaming himself about Sirius' death, but also in the amazement that Tonks believed him and had told him she would try to keep him away from the Dursleys and Dumbledore as quickly as possible.

Eventually he fell asleep, but immediately, the moment that he had been picturing the entire evening, the picture of Sirius falling through the veil started replaying through his dreams. Except now his friends and the other members of the Order died too, or blamed him. Over the course of three hours, Harry awoke 4 times, not getting much rest.

In the next following weeks, Harry's sleep didn't improve and his friends kept nagging him about Sirius, like that was the only thing to talk about. The only person he sometimes talked a bit about Sirius was Tonks and he was very grateful for the fact that she let him talk about it without forcing him. She just let him bring up the subject.

In the meantime, Harry and Tonks had been planning how they wanted to proceed. They talked every evening about their plans. Tonks had quit the Order and even her job and had been traveling since. That was since they didn't want anyone to know they were making plans together and if they would disappear together, it would be too obvious.

Tonks helped Harry studying for his OWL's which he found difficult to focus on, but luckily Tonks helped him, or he would probably fail every course.

One evening, three weeks after Sirius' death and a few days before the OWL's would start, Tonks asked "What do your friends think you're doing the time you're talking with me?"

"I just tell them I'm studying. They've been trying to force me to talk about Sirius. Quite literally by putting my in a body bind and such" Harry answered her, frowning as he thought back to it.

"They should know that that isn't really the best way to approach the subject. Even I know that" Tonks half murmured, half said.

"Exactly, so I've been distancing me from them a bit to be honest. I don't understand that they don't get that I don't want to be forced talking about it"

"It might be harsh to hear this, but it might be better like this" Tonks said sadly.

"I know, but now we should focus on our plans and getting me through OWL's, I still want good results" Harry told her.

So Tonks continued helping him study and together they made their plans. They knew it had to be thought out thoroughly since they would have a lot of people searching for Harry once they discovered he was gone.

Harry made his OWL's, and to the surprise of his friends, he wasn't really worrying about them and felt good after almost each exam. He knew some of them hadn't been great, but those were the subjects that didn't really matter that much.

He was also almost constantly watched by Ron and Hermione when he was with them, like they were waiting for him to break down. It made it all the harder to get away from them to talk with Tonks through the mirror.

When the OWL's were done completely, the only time they saw Harry was at meals. Other times, he was just in the room of requirements. As part of their plan, Harry had applied glamors, so he would look even more haunted and pale and he also made sure he almost didn't eat a thing in the great hall, only to have Dobby bring him food to the room of requirement.

The reactionof those around him was divided. Hermione and Ron were worried. Dumbledore was glad to see Harry wasn't doing so well, which would help him control the boy again. The reaction from the rest of the school and the teachers was divided, as always when it came to Harry Potter.

Harry used his time to read in the room of requirements everything he would be able to use while they were hiding. Their plans were made and already started, so they were looking at some practical stuff like how they would live and how they would pose for the outer world.

It was two days before he would leave Hogwarts when Harry posed the question that had been nagging him from the beginning "Tonks, can I ask why you are helping me so much, giving up so much?"

"I came to realize, more and more, that you are just a pawn, even though I'm not sure for what greater plan. I want to help you lead your live, help you prepare for what you are unfortunately destined to, so you stand a chance against him. But also because I feel that you are old enough to make your own decisions and you are going to need help" Tonks explained to him.

"Thanks Tonks, I'm glad I'm not alone in this" admitted Harry.

Tonks smiled "Yes well, we're going to have to put step two of our plans into working, you will have to convince the headmaster to let you stay at Privet Drive, without the body guards"

Harry nodded "Wish me luck" and he disabled the mirror and left it in the room to be safe.

He made his way up to the headmaster's office, but it was only when he was standing in front of it, that he realized that he didn't know the password.

He turned his head towards the gargoyles and said "Could you please see if professor Dumbledore could meet me?"

He got no response, but seconds later, they moved aside, so he could go to his office.

"Harry my boy, have a seat, what can I help you with?" professor Dumbledore said with his usual twinkle visible in his eyes.

"First of all, I wish to apologize for my behavior last time is was here" Harry told him, doing his utmost best to look sincere.

"You don't have to apologize my boy, it was understandable to be upset"

Harry nodded before he proceeded "I wanted to ask how my summer would look like. I know I have to go back to the Dursleys"

"That is true. And because of the amplification of the treat, I'm afraid this will have to be for the entire summer"

Harry let his head hang for a moment so it would look like he felt defeated before he spoke "I understand headmaster, but could I ask you a favor"

"If it is reasonable, I will comply with it Harry"

"I would like to be left alone this summer. I need time to think about S.. I need time to think about things, but I don't want anyone to see me go through it"

"Could you give me a minute to think about this" the headmaster asked.

Harry nodded and not much later he felt the headmasters probe in his mind. Thankfully for the few lessons he had gotten from Tonks, the protection spell he had applied and the fact that Dumbledore didn't expected this, he led them to see the moment Sirius fell in the veil, over and over again.

After a minute of this, Dumbledore left his mind and thought for a moment while his eyes twinkled even more than usual "I see no problem with that request, under two conditions"

Harry plastered his face to look like what he hoped was a hopeful smile before the headmaster proceeded "I want you to carry a portkey with you at all times and I want you to take an oath that you won't leave the premises of privet drive 4"

Expecting this, Harry said "I can agree to that sir, thank you. What does this oath imply?"

"Since the nature of the oath, I will make sure you will get warned when you are about to leave the premises and that you can leave in an emergency. If you break the oath, you can lose your magic" the headmaster explained.

"And how do we do so?" Harry asked.

"I will outline the specifics of the oath, while we are holding each other's hand, after that you have to say, I, your name, promise on my magic and my life that, and you insert what you promise"

"So I have to say that I promise to stay on the premises of privet drive 4 while I stay with my relatives this summer?" Harry asked.

"I think that would be correct, are you ready?" the headmaster asked.

Harry nodded, so Albus held out his hand so Harry could take it. Waving his wand over their hands, a silvery rope appeared over their hands "I, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore, witness and receiver of this oath, agree on the terms that Harry James Potter will be warned before he breaks his oath and can break it in a case of an emergency"

"I, Harry James Potter, promise on my magic that I will stay on the premises of privet drive 4 while I stay with my relatives this summer"

The ropes around their hands disappeared and they could both feel the magic set into place.

Before Dumbledore said something, he waved his hand over a pendant "This is the portkey I made for you, you only have to hold it and say 'aegis' before it will be activated"

"Thank you sir, I just want to be alone while I try to come to terms with what has happened. It's hard to do so here, because Ron and Hermione try to force me to talk about it" Harry said.

"I'm glad we came to this understanding Harry" Dumbledore merely said, looking all grandfatherly.

"Me too professor, but how can I know that you will keep to your word? Since I gave you mine."

"If you wish, I can give you my oath to it" Dumbledore said, but without a twinkle in his eyes.

"That wouldn't be necessary sir, I just… It's just hard to know who I can trust these days, after what happened" Harry said, trying to look so sincere as possible.

Dumbledore got his twinkle back. "I promise on my magic that I will not put any guards on Harry James Potter this summer, except on the occasion when he needs to be escorted away from his relatives"

Harry had to try and bite back his smile and said "Thank you professor, that means a lot to me"

"I understand that you have trouble trusting people, but know that you can always come to me or contact me if you have any problems" Dumbledore pressed.

Harry nodded "Again thank you sir" and he left Dumbledore's office.

Harry was extremely glad with how everything had went, it was even better than he had expected. At the same time, Dumbledore was extremely happy as well. He was sure that Harry would dwell on Sirius' death during the summer and he was confined to privet drive 4. He didn't even need to use people of the Order to keep him safe. At the end of the summer, he would collect Harry and make sure he was the one to help him with Sirius' death, so Harry would trust him again.

Back at the room of requirement, Harry activated the mirror again and Tonks' face appeared after a minute.

"Sorry for the waiting, I wasn't decent" and she winked to him.

Blushing Harry told her how it went at the headmaster's office.

"I almost wished I could see his face at the end of the summer when he realizes that his plans bit him in the ass" Tonks chuckled.

"I know, he even made it easier than expected for me to escape and giving me time to do so during the summer" Harry smiled.

"Try and spend some time with your friends tomorrow, I'll see you in two days when we put our plan into action" Tonks told him.

"Ok, thanks Tonks"

"Your welcome Harry"


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

The next day at Hogwarts, all the fifth and seventh years got an owl with the results from their tests. Harry hadn't opened it yet, but had just put it in his trunk, waiting to open it. On the last day of school and the day after that on the Hogwarts Express, Harry tried to spend some time with Ron and Hermione, but also with other members of the DA, but he warned them he would go on his own again if they started about what happened.

He had to ignore Hermione a couple of times, but luckily Ron had shut up about it. All in all, he enjoyed the time he spent with his friends and realized he had missed it. They played some exploding snap and talked about their exams or general things that had happened at Hogwarts.

During the train ride, Harry had trouble keeping his excitement under control. He knew their plan by heart and hoped that everything would be fine. He needed to plaster a neutral face so Ron and Hermione wouldn't get suspicious.

"Why haven't you opened your letter yet Harry" Hermione asked.

"I wanted to wait till I was at the Dursley's, could be a way to cheer me up" Harry replied "Since I have the feeling I didn't batched it up"

"Are you going to be okay there mate?" Ron asked.

Harry nodded "They mostly ignore me and I can use the peace and quiet to think about things" he told them.

It was a little after six that they arrived at Kings Cross Station. Giving a hug to both Hermione and Ron and promising he would write them, he went to search his relatives, for the part of their plan that he dreaded the most.

Once appearing on the muggle side of the platform, Harry could see uncle Vernon standing out in the crowd because of all the place his large body needed. Dragging his trunk towards his uncle, he was met with a scowl.

"Follow me boy, I don't have all day" Vernon growled.

Harry just bit his lip and a shiver went through his body. He didn't say a thing but followed him to the car. He had to drag his trunk in the car whilst holding Hedwig with him. He was squished in the back seat, since his aunt was sitting in front and his cousin next to him.

When they had left the area of Kings Cross Station, Harry mustered all his courage and said "Uncle, could you stop please, we need to discuss something"

Vernon being too shocked that Harry had actually spoken up to him, did what Harry had asked.

"WHAT" he roared once he was at the side of the road "How dare you to disturb me"

"I'm sorry uncle, but I think this will be beneficial for both of us" Harry coyly said, trying to mask the fear he felt.

"What do you mean!" Vernon demanded, his head coloring red.

"I have a proposal, so I will be out of your hair in less than an hour, for the entire summer"

A smile creeping up his uncles face told Harry he was in the clear "So, what do I do" he asked almost to friendly.

"Drive to this address, all will be explained and executed there" Harry told him, while he gave his uncle a slip of paper with the address.

Twenty minutes later, they arrived at the address, even though it just showed abandoned warehouses.

"Why are we here?" Vernon demanded.

"We're here to meet a friend of mine, who will help us get rid of each other" Harry told him and got out of the car. He had put Hedwig's cage on the ground and had started to pull out his trunk.

"You take that bird, I'll take that trunk" Vernon grumbled.

Harry nodded, when he saw that his aunt and cousin weren't moving he said "They'll have to come"

Vernon motioned for his wife and his son to follow him and he followed Harry entering a warehouse.

"Good to see you Harry" Tonks called out when she saw him enter the building.

"Nice to see you too Tonks, ready?" Harry asked.

"Yes, you three might take a seat" Tonks told the Dursleys, pointing towards a sofa in the middle of the abandoned warehouse.

"What is the meaning of this, if you are setting me up" uncle Vernon growled.

"No. We just have to do to a few things so they don't know I'm not in Surrey this summer so they can't force me back, alright?"

Vernon nodded to his cousin.

"You will have to take this pendant with you and leave it at the house and you also have to take this vial. This is my blood, it will make sure the wards around the house don't fail so Dumbledork isn't notified" Harry explained.

"Is that all?" his uncle asked, his two other relatives were just staring at them.

"No" Tonks said "The last part is that I put a spell on you three, so that if they come posing questions, you will answer them and they will believe you. That way they won't bother you"

Uncle Vernon shuddered with the thought of being placed under a spell, but grumbled "Just get this over with so this freak is gone"

Tonks nodded trying not to explode from the anger she felt from their treatment of their cousin. She performed the spell, leaving the Dursleys feeling very warm and fuzzy for a moment. After that Harry shoved them the vial of blood and the pendant in his hand.

"That is all" Harry said "I hope never to see you again"

It only took the Dursleys a minute to leave the warehouse after that, not once looking behind them. The moment they were out of sight, Harry collapsed on the sofa, feeling very groggy.

Tonks was at his side immediately "You alright?"

Harry nodded, but admitted "I've just never stood up to him like that before and it scared the hell out of me"

"Are you ready for the next stage, I would prefer to be in a safe place as soon as possible" Tonks said.

"I thinks so" Harry said and he tried to get up. He almost lost his balance, but Tonks was just in time to grab his hands.

The feeling that went through their bodies after the contact, almost let Tonks release Harry so he would fall on the ground, but she held on and felt the feeling lingered through her entire body.

"What is happening" Harry asked when he looked at their hands.

Tonks also looked down at their hands to see them glowing. Flabbergasted, Tonks said "I don't know", before her eyes opened in shock.

"What is it?" Harry questioned.

"I'm not sure, but I might have a…" Tonks stopped her sentence midway. "What did you feel when I grabbed your hands and how does it feel now?"

Harry blushed, but he tried to overcome his nervousness and said "First I felt like a shock went through my entire body. Now, I feel comforted, warm I guess" The moment he had spoken his words aloud, he ducked his face, blushing.

"Harry, could you please look at me" Tonks asked. Harry looked at her so she said "The first moment, I felt like my body was shaken awake, now I feel safe and…"

Tonks face changed as she was in deep thoughts "Take a seat Harry, we have to go over a few things I guess before we can leave. Please bear with me and answer as best as you can, alright?"

Harry nodded, so Tonks asked "Tell me about your accidental magic"

A confused look crept over Harry's face but he answered none the less "I once made glass disappear at a zoo and set a boa constrictor loose on my cousin. When I was hunted by my cousin and his friends in third grade, I was cornered, until the next thing I knew, I was on the rooftop of the school. I also made the wig of my teacher turn blue and…"

Harry paused. "You can tell me Harry" Tonks urged him.

"My aunt was mad because my hair always looks so unruly, so one evening she cut it all off, leaving only my fringe. I was so mortified that night that I would have to go to school with such hair, but the next morning, my hair was like it normally was" Harry told her and absentmindedly began to rub his arm where his uncle had fractured his bone as a result.

He was so lost in thoughts, that he didn't see the brilliant smile on Tonks' face.

"Harry! Harry!" Tonks finally managed to get his attention back "I know what this means"

"You do?"

"Yes and it will help us a lot with going away from here" Tonks said with a broad smile.

"How?" Harry questioned, a bit baffled with Tonks' response.

"There is one thing that is harder to explain, so I'll do that later, but the second thing is that I think you might be like me, a metamorphmagus"

"You're kidding me, are you? Shouldn't I be able to change my hair then, like you?"

"Harry, there are no spells that make hair grow back. Thera are spells that alter your appearance for a limited amount of time, but normally a witch of wizard isn't supposed to be able to let their hair grow. Tell me, how long has it been since you've been at the hairdresser?"

Harry stared at her for a moment "Since I was ten years old I guess"

Tonks almost bounced on the sofa "Sorry, it's just, metamorphmagi are really rare, I've never met any before you"

"Do you really think I am a metamorphmagus" Harry asked her a bit insecure.

When Tonks nodded he asked "How is it then that you are able to do the things you can, but I can't?"

"I had to practice a lot to control this. Often parents place a spell on the child when they are younger that stops the changes. It is possible that you still have this spell on you if your parents had placed it on you. Your hair would have grown back since you were I so much destress and it was to a point that was familiar for you" Tonks told him.

Tonks let everything sink in a little bit before she said "We should get going now, but we should go to Gringotts first. I'll place a spell on you so you're not that recognizable, alright"

Harry nodded before Tonks set to work. She placed the spell on Harry, so now he had sandy brown hair and dark brown eyes. She then let Hedwig out of the cage and shrunk the cage before placing it in Harry's trunk, which she then also shrunk and she made it weightless.

"Come on, I'll side-allong you towards Diagon Alley, from there on we go to Gringotts immediately" Tonks told him.

Again Harry nodded before Tonks grabbed his hand again and he felt himself being squeezed through a tube.

Quickly releasing each other's hand because it started glowing again, Harry asked "What was that?"

"I apparated us here. It's the easiest way, now come on" Tonks urged him.

Walking quickly towards the large white building, they couldn't help but notice that the Alley was almost deserted.

Once arrived at Gringotts, they went to a free goblin before Tonks spoke "We would like to discuss some things in private and a warded room would be nice"

The goblin nodded before he got up and motioned them to follow him. They walked through a maze of corridors before they stopped and entered one of the doors.

"My name is Slicktooth, what can I do for you Mr. Potter and Ms. Tonks?"

"First we want to look into Sirius Black's will. Since Harry should be the largest beneficiary, he should be able to execute it" Tonks spoke while she looked the goblin directly in her eyes and taking Harry's hand.

The goblin's eyes opened very wide seeing the glow on their hands and responded "Very well, I will be back in a few minutes with the will"

Tonks turned towards Harry "Can you explain to me the difference you feel when we touch and when we don't? It's important that you describe it very detailed to me"

Harry turned almost crimson but nodded and tried to focus. "I feel different than on the train. I have a feeling of loss when I don't touch you" His head turned even more red, but Tonks silently encouraged him to say more. "When we touch, if feel very a- attr…" Harry couldn't say the word.

"It's alright, you feel attracted to me don't you". Harry nodded but looked at the ground instead of at Tonks.

"Did you feel like this before today" Tonks asked tenderly and she took his hand into hers to give him the comfort he needed to answer.

"I've always thought you had a great personality and you are very attractive" Harry managed to say. Tonks wanted to say something but he continued "I've always noticed when you were in a room at Grimmaulds and the last month and a half, you are the only reason I'm still sane I think"

"Do you trust me?" Tonks asked him after a moment of silence.

"More than anyone else" Harry admitted.

Tonks closed her eyes for a moment to try and calm herself, since what she felt was almost overwhelming. Opening her eyes again, she carefully placed her hand on his cheek and was amazed by what she felt before she moved her face towards his.

The moment their lips touched, they were entirely engulfed in white light and the overwhelming feeling they both got from the kiss made them faint.

Thirty minutes later, Tonks was the first to wake up and she noticed that instead of sitting on a chair, she was laying on a sofa. Opening her eyes, the first thing she saw was Harry lying next to her on the sofa, with a relaxed smile on his face. What shocked her the most was that he now had dark blue hair, instead of his usual black. She carefully went to sit up and placed his head on her lap.

"How are you feeling Ms. Tonks?" Slicktooth asked who was sitting on a chair a little further.

"Overwhelmed" Tonks said, while she tried one again to get her feelings under control.

"It was quite the power surge our wards stopped" the goblin told her. "We have never had one like that and you are also one of the firsts to faint"

'My apologies" Tonks told the goblin.

"That's not necessary. Gringotts was happy to accommodate"

Slicktooth wanted to say something else, but that was the moment that Harry started moving. It was only a few seconds later that he opened his eyes.

"What happened" he asked groggily.

Tonks looked at the goblin a bit at loss. Slicktooth understanding this started "What you have went through here was the second step of a bonding process. It happens sometimes that two people have a bond, which shows itself by glowing when the two parties involved touch each other. This is the first step in the bonding. The second step, is when both parties decide to act on their feelings and kiss. I will leave the third step for Ms. Tonks to explain to you on another time. You two share a special bond, since you two are both metamorphmagi. This makes the bond even stronger because there is much more in common and a lot more magic involved. Once the third step of the bond is completed, you would be seen as a legally married couple, which would make you Mr. Potter emancipated"

"So if I'm correct, I have a bond with Tonks, which is two thirds completed. If the bond is completed entirely, I will be seen as an adult in the wizarding world. And it is confirmed I'm a metamorphmagus?" Harry tried to recapitulate.

"It is definitely confirmed that you're an metamorphmagus" Tonks smiled before she conjured a mirror for him and let him

When Harry looked in the mirror, he saw his facial features hadn't changed to much, but his hair was dark blue instead of black and his eyes were clear blue. What shocked him the most was that his scar seemed to have disappeared.

"What do you think?" Tonks asked him.

"Wow" was all that Harry managed to make out. For a moment he wanted to lean closer to Tonks, but he seemed to change his mind at the last thought.

Tonks, noticing this hesitation, leaned forward and kissed him again softly, before resting her forehead against his.

"You alright?" she asked a bit worried.

"I thinks so, I'm not dreaming am I?" he asked her.

"No, you're not. How are you feeling?"

"I don't know, it's so much. Are you alright?" voiced Harry his worries.

Tonks smiled "I'm fine, just overwhelmed. I had heard about this phenomena before but I could have never thought…"

They were staring in each other's eyes when Slicktooth coughed a little to make his presence known again.

"Sorry Slicktooth" Tonks recovered first.

He chuckled "That's alright. Are you ready to read the will your godfather left you? Or do you wish me to sum it up for you?"

"Could you sum it up?" Harry asked.

"Of course. In short, he left you everything, except Grimmaulds Place 12, which he gave to the order. 1 million galleons for each Andromeda and Nymphadora Tonks and also for the Weasley family, but I can assure you, this is only a small part of your inheritance. You also inherited some properties and some stock holdings, but you will only be able to access this when you are 17 or emancipated"

Harry nodded "Is there a way to keep it from the Weasleys that I asked for the will being executed for the moment?"

"There is, we can keep everything disclosed for four months after the death of the testator. You would be able to access it and Ms. Tonks here too, because you were at the original reading" Slicktooth informed them.

"That would be perfect" Harry told the goblin.

The goblin nodded and got out two pieces of parchment "I need your signatures to make the transfer, you Ms. Tonks are able to sign as guardian of Mr. Potter because of the special circumstances"

Tonks signed both the papers and Harry his after which Tonks asked "Is there a way we can get galleons, but also muggle money without having to come into the bank every time. It will be quite difficult at some times to do so"

"There is. We have developed in the last years a wallet, that will give you the amount of money you need, in every currency. You just have to hold your hand on it and think about the amount you want. In case of large amounts, there will appear a note that they can tap so the money will be transferred to their vault or a muggle credit card will appear" Slicktooth informed them.

"What is the cost to have such wallet?" Tonks asked.

"20 Galleons a month per wallet and single amount of 100 Galleons for making them" Slicktooth said.

"We both want one, keyed to the vaults we have access too"

"Very well, I will need a drop of blood from both you and Mr. Potter to key you to each of your wallet, by doing so you also sign the contract to pay 20 Galleons a month"

Both Harry and Tonks completed the procedure before they were handed the wallet, which they both placed in a safe place. After thanking Slicktooth for his time, they left Gringotts with their wallets and Harry with a folder that contains everything Sirius has left him.

They left Diagon Alley trough the Leaky Cauldron towards muggle London.

"Do you want to grab a bite?" Tonks asked Harry.

Harry absentmindedly nodded, so after walking a couple of blocks, they entered a little pizzeria and took a table for two.

Without talking too much, they both ordered a pizza and something to drink before Tonks put up a privacy ward so nobody would hear them talking.

"Knut for your thoughts?" Tonks offered.

Harry blushed but asked anyway "What needs to happen for this bond to be completed?"

"The first step is by initiating contact, the second step is by kissing, the third step is through intimate contact" Tonks carefully said.

The blush only increased on Harry's face but he tried to ask "Have you ever… I mean did you"

Tonks took his hand and looked him in the eyes "A bond can only be made when the two who are destined for the bond have never been intimate with another person before"

"Oh…" was the only thing Harry could make out.

"I might be older than you Harry, but I have almost no idea when it comes to relationships" Tonks admitted. "Does it bother you that I'm six years older?"

"No it doesn't. Will all this change to our plans?"

"I'm not sure Harry, but we could take advantage of some things. I would wait to leave the country, to make it more difficult for them if they start the search. It's not like anyone can recognize you or me for the moment" Tonks said with a smile.

"That's alright for me. We might be able to go to Diagon Alley to get some books on the subjects we need" Harry suggested.

"And we also have the time to make us some muggle papers, so we can take a plane or something like that"

It was silent while the waitress brought them their pizzas, but eventually Harry asked "What do we do now?"

"I suggest we find a place we can stay for the moment, a hotel or something. While we are there, we can reevaluate our plans"

Harry nodded "I think I should try and master this morphing thing a bit before we leave"

"It would make it near impossible for anyone to track us then" Tonks said.

"Why do you think I have taken this hair color an eye color?" Harry asked.

"I don't know, but I know I like it" Tonks said while the blush crept on her cheeks.

After dinner, they wandered around a bit in London in the search for a hotel. Once they had found one that could host them for a couple of days and up to a few weeks, they made their way upstairs so they could give in to a very tiring day.

Entering the room, Harry immediately saw the first problem "Euhm Tonks, there's only one bed here"

Debating with herself for a moment, Tonks just said "Then we'll have to share, I'll stay on my side, you stay on yours, alright?"

Harry just nodded, not knowing what else to do.

"I'll take the bathroom first, maybe you can unload some clothes already, since we're going to stay here a while" Tonks suggested.

Harry was unpacking some things from his trunk, thinking about how his day had passed. Hours ago he was on the Hogwarts Express with his friends thinking he was returning in September, now he was bonded with Tonks, in a hotel, sharing a bed and they were making plans to leave the country.

He had fished out some of Dudley's old pajamas so he could change quickly when Tonks came out of the bathroom. He had put away all of his clothes and rearranged his trunk when it was finally Harry's turn. Quickly changing and getting ready, he was out in the bedroom in a few minutes.

When he got out, Tonks was already lying in bed with his fifth year defense book. Harry quickly went to grab something from his trunk.

"Tonks, do you think you could…" Harry said while he held out the letter with his OWL results.

"You haven't opened it jet?"

"No, I felt like I had to open it with you" and asked "Can you open it?"

Tonks nodded and took the envelope from him, before opening it.

 **s**

 _Pass Grades Fail Grades_

Outstanding (O) Poor (P)

Exceeds Expectations (E) Dreadful (D)

Acceptable (A) Troll (T)

 ** _Harry James Potter has achieved:_**

Astronomy A

Care of Magical Creatures E

Charms O

Defense Against the Dark Arts O*

Divination D

Herbology E

History of Magic P

Potions O

Transfiguration O

*Highest mark for Defense Against the Dark Arts since beginning of the OWL's

"You did great Harry, seven OWL's" Tonks said while she passed the parchment to Harry "And you patronus must have surprised the examiner if you got those marks.

"I wished is could shove this into Snape's nose, to bad I won't be going back"

"That's true, now get into bed, I won't bite" Tonks said.

Harry was still smiling from his OWL's when he got under the covers of the bed. Tonks nicely on the right side, while Harry was laying on the left side.


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

The next morning, Tonks woke up with a strange feeling. She had a warm feeling, a feeling of belonging. She opened her eyes and saw an arm laying over her and a warm body against her back. It was then that the day before came back to her and she realized that they hadn't stayed nice on their own side of the bed. Quite marveled at the good feeling it gave her, she laid her own arm over it and scooted a little closer towards Harry.

Tonks moving in the bed must have woken up Harry because Tonks felt how carefully tried to move his arm a few minutes later.

"You can leave it there, I quite like it" Tonks admitted.

"I'm sorry. I… I…" Harry said, not knowing what to do or say.

"Harry, I just said I like how we are laying in the bed, do you mind?"

"Not at all" he quickly said, but she felt how his head ducked a little bit, so she could imagine the blush appearing on his face.

"Then leave your arm there, maybe I can catch some more sleep then…"

"Ok" Harry just said, but Tonks noticed that he wasn't that comfortable.

Tonks eventually removed her arm and turned so she was faced to Harry "Are you all right?"

"Yes, it's just all so strange and new and I'm totally at loss what I should do" Harry admitted. "Just yesterday I was on the train with my friends, although I knew I would leave them behind. Then I see the Dursleys, and I'm able to stand up to them, something I've never been able to do before. And then to top it off, we are bonded, just like that and I'm a metamorphmagus. It's really a lot to take in Tonks"

"You're not the only one Harry. I'm sorry if you would have preferred to wait before we completed the second step of our bond, but I thought it was for the best. We would have kept glowing if we hadn't and it was important to be in a warded room, since there usually is a lot of energy involved" Tonks explained.

Harry thought for a moment "It's not that I mind you doing so and I feel better than I have before, just being with you. I just never thought properly about girls or my future and now I'm bound to be married… I'm only fifteen!"

"I know, luckily and sadly, you aren't anything close to that age if we are talking about a mental age, but I understand that this is hard for you Harry. Especially since you again don't have a say in it. Neither do I, but for me it is different I guess. I never thought I would find someone who was with me for me, and not for my abilities. I guess I'm just a bit excited about it"

"I just really don't know what to do" Harry told her, feeling exasperated.

I can understand that, but try not to think too much and go with your feelings, that's what I'm trying to do" Tonks told him and she took his hand again, giving him some comfort through their bond.

"I'll try"

"If you ever feel uncomfortable or anything like that, I want you to tell me and I'll do the same. Deal?"

"Deal" a little emboldened by Tonks little speech made Harry move forward and gently brush his lips against hers. He felt like his entire body came alive, with the warmth that spread through him.

Looking into his eyes and quite happy with the initiative Tonks said with a smile "That's more like it"

"We might get up and discuss what we need to do… Breakfast downstairs or here?" Tonks asked after a while of getting lost in his eyes.

"Here at the chamber might be easier to discuss things, do you want me to call for room service?"

Tonks nodded "A simple English breakfast for me"

While Harry started to phone the reception, Tonks made her way to the showers. After both had taken a quick shower, their breakfast had arrived and they took place at the little table they had in their room.

"Alright, so what will we do now?" Harry asked.

"We will start today with getting us both a new wardrobe, muggle and wizarding. And while we are at Diagon Alley, we should look for more practical trunks for both of us and also going to Flourish and Blotts.

"Let's start with the trunks, then the wizarding wardrobe, then the books, then the muggle wardrobe" Harry suggested, since that sounded the most logic way to do so.

"I think that would work out perfectly. To avoid problems, we are trying to use as little magic as possible while we are here, that way we stay under the radar"

"Fine by me, I can't even do magic. The only time I would do so would be if we are attacked"

"Yes but if we are, make way to the apparation point or a point where we can apparate to disappear as fast as possible, alright?" Tonks told him.

"Alright… I'm not sure if it is possible, but can we get some new wands? Some that are unregistered?" Harry asked.

"I know a way to get such wands, come on, let's start, we have a lot to do today"

Harry nodded and placed their plates on the cart they had left there. They both made sure they had their wallet and wand with them before they left their room, leaving the cart on the hallway.

When they were outside of the hotel, Harry grabbed Tonks' hand, much to her surprise. Harry caught her looking surprised and said with a smile "Not too much thinking right"

"Exactly, I'm glad you're catching up so fast"

They walked in silence, just enjoying each other's company towards the leaky cauldron and made their ways towards the brick wall without getting to much attention.

The moment they stood in Diagon Alley again, Harry asked "So starting with trunks?"

"Yes, come on" and Tonks pulled him towards 'Stowe and Packers Magical Bags '.

In the shop, they looked around for a bit, before they found a model that they both liked. It had five compartments, two for clothes, one for books and two regular compartments. The trunk was also always feather light and could be shrunk.

"We would like to buy two of such trunk" Tonks said towards the clerk.

The man nodded and went towards them "Would you like to have them in different woods?"

"Yes, that would be nice, what are the possibilities?" Harry asked.

"We have maple wood, oak and mahogany for this model of trunk"

"I would like the oak, you" Tonks said towards Harry.

"Mahogany for me"

"Alright, we have a deal for the moment that you get a backpack or purse with an extendable charm on it for half of the price" the shop assistant told them.

"If you go and get those trunks, then we'll discuss it" Tonks answered.

When the shop assistant was gone, Harry said "I think that would be really useful, definitely in the muggle world"

"I think you're right"

"Perfect" Harry said with a smile, while he already wandered towards the backpacks.

Even before the shop assistant was back with the trunks, Harry and Tonks had both chosen what they wanted. Harry had taken a simple black backpack, since it would be easy to use it all the time, while Tonks took a special model that could change to simple colors"

"I'm going to pay for all this, alright" Tonks told him without much room for discussion.

"Fine by me, since I know that your money and my money will become our money in the future" Harry admitted.

This shocked Tonks for a moment, since she hadn't thought about it like that before, but she nodded anyway.

When the shop assistant came back with their trunks, they had already placed the two backpacks on the counter.

"Alright, that will be 1450 galleons in total" the shop assistant said a bit nervous.

Tonks nodded, took out her wallet and thought about the amount and a note came out of it. She just gave it to the shop assistant. "Thank you for the help"

They packed their trunks in their backpacks, before they left the shop.

"So where next?" Harry asked.

"We probably should start at Madam Malkin's. She should be able to help us with most of the clothes"

Harry just grabbed Tonks' hand and followed her. Once they entered the shop, Tonks just said to one of the assistants "We would both like to get a new full wardrobe"

Needing a moment to mask her shock, the assistant just nodded before she excused herself for a moment and went to get Madam Malkin herself.

A minute later Madam Malkin came out from the back and went to Harry and Tonks "I heard you would like to buy a full wardrobe for the both of you, do you have a certain budget?"

"No, no budget" Tonks said before she showed her Gringotts wallet.

Madam Malkin, better trained than her assistant was able to not show her surprise and ushered them over to the back.

"I'll start with taking your sizes and then we'll start, alright?"

They both nodded, so Madam Malkin went to work. After taking their measurements, she asked them what type of fabric they liked and then the colors. Once she was finished with that, she showed them some models before Harry and Tonks had to make the decisions of what they wanted. Eventually they both settled with six casual robes and two formal robes.

After paying, they went to a shop for some pajamas for Harry and then another shop so they could buy some new shoes.

"Are we done with clothes shopping here?" Harry asked, a little bit tired of it.

"Yes, we are, now we can get you some books" Tonks said with a smile.

"That already sounds better" Harry answered.

They entered Flourish and Blotts, which was almost empty. They split up and started to roam the shelves for books that could be useful. They spent the better part of an two hours there, before they exited the shop with a nice addition of their book collection.

Walking through Diagon Alley, hand in hand, Tonks noticed an optometrist. Without explaining, she pulled Harry towards the shop.

Once she had entered the shop, she went straight to the optician and said "What are you possibilities for a person with bad sight?"

"We have glasses, that is the cheapest solution, then are the lenses, we also have potions that a person can take, but that is more expensive" the man behind the counter explained.

"Do you have a permanent solution?" Tonks asked.

"We have. It's a cure of three potion, but it is extremely expensive because of the ingredients and the time it takes to make, plus it also depends on the eyes of the person" the optician explained.

"Could you tell me how much it would be to correct his eyes?" Tonks asked while pointing towards Harry.

"I can, if you let me perform a spell to assess your eyes"

Harry just nodded, so the man waved his wand over Harry's eyes while muttering an incantation.

"You really have horrible eyes if I'm honest and your glasses aren't helping either. It would be 18.000 Galleons for the required potions"

"Alright, we would like to have it" Tonks said without thinking about it.

The optician looked surprised at them before he nodded. He went to the back while Tonks already took out the note from her wallet to pay for it.

"Why are we doing this?" Harry asked.

"Because glasses are an obstacle during fight. If you lose them, you're lost"

Harry thought about it "It would make flying a lot easier too"

Tonks wanted to say something more, but the optician came back with three vials of potions. Tonks handed him the piece of paper before he explained "You have to take the red one first. This will take about an hour for it to work. You will know it has worked when the only thing you see is white. After that you have to take the purple potion, this one takes a bit longer, about eight hours to work completely and it will make colors flow before your eyes. As last, you have the green one, when you take this one, it will be around ten minutes before your eyesight it perfect"

"Thank you for the help" Tonks told the man before they took the potions and left the shop.

"We should start this an hour before we go to sleep, that way I can sleep through the purple potion" Harry said.

"Not a bad idea" Tonks smiled. "Now we should just get a good potion kit, so we can make a potions when necessary"

"And maybe pick up some owl treats for when Hedwig is back, I'm almost through my stock"

Once they had finished that, Tonks took Harry back to muggle London where they looked for a place to eat something. They took place at a little tavern that served Shepard pies.

"So, are you still alive after a morning of shopping?" Tonks asked teasingly.

"I believe so, it also helps that you make me feel alive" Harry admitted.

Tonks smiled at his cheesiness "Are you still okay with the last bit of shopping?"

"I am, I'm actually looking forward to shop for clothes that fit me, and it's different than with wizarding clothes"

"How so?"

"At Hogwarts I already wore robes that fit me, it will be nice to be able to wear a jeans that I don't have to hold up with a belt and a t-shirt that I can fit in twice"

"Well, I'm also looking forward to it, to the shopping and the result" Tonks had to admit.

When they came with their food, Harry asked "Could you tell me a bit more about how you grew up?"

Tonks nodded and started to tell him everything on how she grew up learning both the muggle and magical customs, since her father was a muggleborns. How she learned to control her abilities so her parents were able to take her to muggle outings and such.

"It seems like your parents were great" Harry mused.

"They were, they did their best to let me do what I wanted, even thought that wasn't possible in the first years, since my hair started changing depending on my mood" Tonks chuckled.

"I just wonder why I never did things like that, if you are really convinced that I'm like you…" Harry mused.

"Well, not every metamorphmagus is capable of doing everything, so we would have to see what your limits are, but you show very little signs, so it is possible that something else is the reason" Tonks answered.

They were long done with eating so Harry proposed "We should probably ask for the bill and start with our last bit of shopping"

"You're right" Tonks said while she flagged down the waiter.

After paying, they started walking around, in search for some good clothing stores, which they finally found after walking for ten minutes. When they walked in, Tonks immediately pulled Harry with her towards the men's section. Once there, she flagged down a shops assistant.

"Excuse me ma'am, but we are looking for an entire wardrobe for my boyfriend, since he is in desperate need for some new clothes" Tonks explained.

The young woman's eyes lit up at the hearing of a full wardrobe, but when she saw the state of Harry's clothes, she became a bit wary "Do you have a budget?"

"No, not really, I came in an inheritance recently, so I thought that spending it on new clothes for him wasn't a bad idea"

"Alright, my name is Mary by the way"

"My name is Tonks and this is Harry"

"Nice to meet you, now, we should start with taking some measurements, then I'll give you some basic pieces to work out what model fits you the best and then we only have to find the right pieces" Mary told Harry.

"It's fine by me, just tell me what I have to do" Harry said.

"Oh, I like this one, most of the young men complain when they come in here" she said with a wink towards both Harry and Tonks.

"Well, I don't think it is often that you see someone walking in here looking like a person in olifant skin, who's going to buy clothes for himself for the first time in his life" Harry countered.

Tongue-tied for a moment, the girl didn't knew what to say, so Harry said "Don't worry about it, I'm just happy to finally get some new clothes"

Mary nodded before she took a measurement lint and started to take some sizes.

"Seems like you're a medium in size, Tonks do you have a preference in style?"

"Not really, not to strict, but not boyish or like a punk" Tonks told her.

"So more a casual style?"

"Yes, I think that would be good, but he also needs two formal outfits"

"Alright, let's start. I suggest we all take a few pieces we like and then we head out to the dressing rooms to see what that gives" Mary suggested and was already picking out some pieces of clothes.

Soon after, both Harry and Tonks were doing the same and then heading towards the changing rooms.

Harry started with a simple jeans and black shirt before he came back out to be inspected by Tonks and Mary.

"Mmm, I can't believe what difference that makes" Tonks said, making Harry blush.

"I agree, I think we need to keep it simple, for t-shirts plain ones or with a simple print" Mary said and she pushed a shirt with print in his hands.

Harry just turned and went to put on the different shirt before coming back again. It went like that for almost two hours, before he had tried every piece of clothing they had brought. Most of it had landed on the not pile, but the pile of clothes they would buy was already considerable.

"I'm going to look around for some more clothes and then come back, just give me a few minutes" Mary instructed.

When Mary was out of earshot, Harry sighted what made Tonks chuckle.

"It's not funny, I'm really trying here to not complain" Harry told her. "Although I love the thought of clothes of my own, trying them all on is a bit much"

"I know, and I'm really grateful the way you're handling it" she told him and then closed the space between them before moving her lips over his. It was a soft kiss, but filled with emotion, enhanced by the bond they share.

Harry smiled "That already makes it worth the while"

"Well, of you keep up this front, then I might do it again" Tonks told him with a wink.

"I was planning on doing so without the further encouragement, but I don't mind" Harry said with a smile.

"It looks like you are getting better with this no thinking think" Tonks happily told him.

Harry took her hand and pulled her in a hug. The sensation of being so close was for both of them almost overwhelming, but they also felt safe and sheltered. Before releasing Tonks, he placed a kiss on her forehead.

"It's really great to look at you two" Mary said while she had her hands full of clothes.

This made Harry blush, but Tonks just squeezed his hand that she was still holding.

"Alright, I think I have some more fitting to do" Harry said trying to get out of the situation.

Mary nodded and gave him the next set of clothes. It was another hour and a half before they had decided on the clothes they would take.

Harry had never owned so much clothes in his life and it was hard to think that all those clothes they had picked would be his.

"Euhm, we also need some sportswear and shoes" Harry said.

"Wow, a man who suggest we do some more shopping, I'm impresses. He's a keeper Tonks" Mary said.

"I know he's a keeper" Tonks said while looking in Harry's eyes.

"I'll move the clothes you've picked behind the counter, but you might want to keep those clothes on, they suit you better than your previous pair. I'll just take the cards off of it" Mary told them.

Once the cards were gone from the clothes Harry was wearing in the end, they went towards the sportswear.

When they got there, Mary asked "What do you need specifically?"

"I think for the moment, running clothes especially" Harry responded.

"Alright and how much do you think you'll sport in a week?"

"About two to three time a day, every day of the week" Harry told her "We've decided to become a bit more fit and we haven't got much else to do"

"Okay, I suggest we just take clothes of the racks, I don't think those need fitting" Mary suggested.

"I won't complain about that" Harry told her.

Mary nodded and started showing them different kind of sportswear. In the end, it only took them half an hour to collect all the sports clothes.

"Alright, so for the moment we have t-shirts with short and long sleeves, shirts, pulls, jackets, vests, long and short pants, pajamas and sportswear. We still need underwear and shoes, right" Mary summed up.

Even though he was blushing, Harry suggested "Right, but maybe you can go and look at the shoes, take a selection, while I go and get my underwear"

"That can work, the underwear section is there, just come and find us when you're ready" Mary told him, taking pity on him.

"I'll see you in a few minutes" Tonks said after she kissed his cheek.

It only took Harry a few minutes to take socks, boxers and undershirts, so he was back with Tonks and Mary in less than ten minutes. After inspecting what he had chosen, Mary told him "Thank you for not picking white socks"

Harry laughed a bit "I would never do that, those remember me of my uncle. I also picked some swimming trunks"

"Good idea, in that time we've selected a few pair of shoes for you" Tonks told him and showed him what they had.

"I like those brown leather shoes, those black sneakers, the brown boots and the grey trainers" Harry said pointing to the shoes he liked before he eye fell on a pair that still stood on the rack.

Tonks, who had seen Harry's look go to a pair of dark blue plimsolls said "And maybe these" before she took the shoes of the rack.

"Busted" Harry murmured.

"I can live with those" Mary said "Come on let's try those shoes on"

After fitting them and selecting the right size, Harry had wanted to take only three of the pairs, but Tonks had managed to convince him to take all five of the pairs.

"Now we only need to buy you some running shoes, I suggest two pair so you can change once in a while" Mary told him before darting away towards the running shoes.

"I don't think we'll have the time to shop for you new clothes today" Harry told Tonks.

"No problem, we can always come back, alright?" Tonks reassured him.

"Alright, so only the running shoes and then we're done here for today?" Harry asked.

"Yep and you should keep on those shoes afterwards, they fit with your new outfit" Tonks told him before she went to sit next to him and took his hand.

"I will. I wished someone had taken me clothes shopping before. I had the money and then I wouldn't have had to wear those rags for the last few years" Harry told her.

"I know, but the most important thing is that now you have and that change only helps us" Tonks said.

They sat there in comfortable silence until Mary came back with four different pairs of running shoes. After trying them on and running a little distance inside the store, Harry decided on two pairs.

"Is it alright if I put on those shoes?" Harry asked "I don't really fancy putting on my old shoes"

"No problem, I'll take of the tag and then you can put them back on" Mary answered with a smile.

When Harry had put on his new shoes, they went to the cash register. Mary started first entering the tags of the clothes and shoes that Harry was wearing, before she started scanning every other piece they would buy. A few of her colleagues had looked at them already with a strange look, definitely when the mountain of clothes kept growing.

Eventually Mary had entered everything, she said a bit nervously "That will be 7385 pounds"

"Ok, with the card please" Tonks said and she took her credit card from her wallet and swiped it through the machine and after putting her signature on the receipt everything was paid.

"Good luck with carrying all of this" Mary told them.

"Thank you" Tonks told her before she asked "Do you work tomorrow?"

"Yes"

"Is it alright if I come by tomorrow morning so we can shop for my new wardrobe?"

"Of course, sorry I had forgotten that you also needed a new wardrobe"

"No problem, I don't think we have the time left today"

"That's true, I'll see you tomorrow then" Mary told Tonks. "And good luck with the new clothes" she said to Harry.

"Thank you for all your help today" Harry told her sincerely.

"It was my pleasure"

Taking all of the bags in their hand, they barely made it out of the store and in a dark alley.

"I'm really glad now that I've brought my backpack" Harry said while they were loading everything in it.

"You're not the only one" Tonks said.

"Thank you for taking me clothing shopping" Harry told her sincerely before he kissed her.

"It was my pleasure, you're not the only one who will enjoy your new clothes"

After getting back in the hotel, they unloaded Harry's new clothes, some in the closet of the hotel, but most of them in his trunk, since there would never be enough place in the hotel's closet.

When they were done doing so, Harry asked "Would you like to take a walk with me before we head to dinner?"

"I would love to" Tonks responded.

They left their room and the hotel and started walking around in London.

"I'm glad my shopping part is done, I really have no idea how many pieces of clothing I've tried today"

"I know Harry, but normally you should have to do so in a while and normally you wouldn't need an entire new wardrobe in the future" Tonks told him.

"That's true" Harry said while he steered them in a park.

After walking for a few minutes in the park, hand in hand, enjoying the company, Harry asked "Could you conjure a blanket, then we can take a seat for a moment"

Tonks carefully looked around that nobody could see her before she conjured the blanket and spread it next to a tree.

Harry went to sit first and when Tonks wanted to go sit next to him, he redirected her so she would sit with her back to his chest. Wrapping his arms around her, he savored the proximity of Tonks.

"I like this" Tonks said, with her eyes closed.

"Me too" Harry murmured.

They sat like that for a very long time when an owl came towards them. Hooting to attract their attention. Immediately aware of their surroundings, Harry and Tonks had already grabbed their wands, but relaxed when the saw the owl.

"What do you have for us?" Harry asked, while he undid the letter from the owl's leg and the owl flew away again.

Seeing a Gringotts crest on the wax seal, Harry started to calm down even more. Opening it and reading it, Harry became a little confused, so he handed it to Tonks.

After Tonks read the letter she turned to sit face to face with Harry.

"The goblins send you this letter to inform that you have multiple blocks on you. They wanted to be certain, that's why they inspected the wards around the room of yesterday where they found the evidence they needed. They are inviting you to come to Gringotts if you want to remove these" Tonks explained to him.

"What would you do?" Harry asked.

"For the moment, I trust the goblins more than pretty much everybody else. They wouldn't want to cross you since you are a major client with them. I would go" Tonks gave her opinion.

Harry thought for a moment "You're right, if I really have blocks on my magic, then I want them gone"

"So you're going to go tomorrow morning?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, I hope you don't mind, you can go shopping while they remove the blocks" Harry suggested.

"That wouldn't be bad idea, that way I don't have to bore you with the shopping" Tonks admitted.

"The one who is done first can go to the other" Harry suggested.

"Okay, are you sure you will go on you own?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, 100% sure" and he kissed her cheek.

"Alright, now come on, I'm hungry"


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

The next morning, Harry and Tonks woke up like the morning before, with Harry's arm around Tonks' stomach. This time Harry had woken up before Tonks and ashamed, he tried to pull his arm away without waking up Tonks.

He didn't woke up Tonks, but he wasn't able to move his arm because the moment he tried to move it away, Tonks unconsciously moved her own arm over it to keep it there.

Not really knowing what to do, Harry decided not to wake up Tonks so he could remove his arm, but decided to leave it there. A few minutes after that decision, he started to understand Tonks' reaction from the day before a lot better. When he relaxed himself in the hold, he really reveled in it, getting lost in the feeling of warmth and security. Before he knew it, he had drifted away again.

An hour later, Tonks woke up and the little movement she made waking up, woke Harry.

"Good morning" he told her and gave her cheek a little kiss while still holding her close to him.

Tonks not knowing what had caused the change if she thought back about the day before, turned around to face Harry "You seem a lot more at ease"

"I do, you're right, waking up like this is really nice" Harry admitted, but when he saw the look on Tonks' face he added "I woke up a little while ago and I couldn't move since you grabbed my arm when I tried to remove it. Eventually I relaxed enough to notice that it really is nice"

"I'm glad for the change and although I would love to lay here for a while, I think we need to get up"

"I know, can I take a quick shower first?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but I could join you" Tonks said for a wink.

Harry's face became entirely red and he started sputtering, not knowing what to respond.

"Relax, I was just teasing you" Tonks assured him.

Harry just nodded not trusting his voice, took some clothes and disappeared in the bathroom. There instead of a normal shower, he made it a cold one since he had trouble getting Tonks' suggestion out of his head.

Eventually he got out of the shower and put some of his new clothes on, before returning to the bedroom. Tonks just past him towards the shower, so Harry took out a book he had bought about occlumency and started reading.

When Tonks got out of the bathroom, he had read the first chapter. "Did you know I already learned more about occlumency by reading this first chapter, than in all of Snape's lessons"

"It doesn't surprise me actually, since you told me about this lessons" Tonks commented.

"That's true, I've ordered breakfast for us, it should be here any minute"

"Thanks, that's thoughtful" Tonks wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by a knock on their door.

Harry got up to get their breakfast.

During breakfast, Harry was thinking about something he had read in the occlumency book. Tonks had noticed Harry's even more quite demeanor and asked about it.

"In the book about occlumency, they say that you have to learn occlumency with somebody you trust and knows you completely. I trust you completely, so I want you to help me learning it if you want to do that, but there are so many things you don't know about yet and I'm not sure if I can talk about them" Harry explained.

"Things about the Dursleys?" Tonks carefully asked.

"That's one of things, but also my adventures at Hogwarts and stuff"

"If you want me to know about these things, then there are two way we can do this. The first thing is that I use legimency to enter you mind and look for those memories, but that could harm your learning of occlumency. The other way is making sure we have a pensive and going through your memories like that"

"I would prefer the pensive, but that's expensive I've heard"

"We can afford that easily Harry, don't worry. If you want, you can go an buy one in Diagon Alley, there is a shop next to the apothecary that sells magical items, they should have pensives" Tonks told him.

"Ok, I'll go and get one before I go to Gringotts then" Harry agreed.

They finished eating breakfast and then headed out. Before they split up, Tonks gave Harry a kiss

"I'll see you later, have fun shopping" Harry told her.

Tonks nodded and she started to walk towards the store they had gone the day before. Then Harry also started to walk towards Gringotts.

It took Harry 5 minutes before he reached the Leaky Cauldron and he quietly went to the brick wall without being noticed much. Before he headed to Gringotts, he went to the store that Tonks had described to him.

In the store he saw lots of magical items, but not wanting to lose any time, he went to the shop keeper and asked "Do you have any pensives?"

"I do actually, we have new ones and secondhanded ones. What would you prefer?" the man asked.

"I think a new one would be better" Harry said, so the man directed him to the right place in the store.

"We have different kind of models. The cheapest are the ones that can only hold one memory, so you need to remove them every time you want to watch another one. Then we have those that are a little more expensive, those can hold as much memories you want. The most expensive ones also have a locking and protecting mechanism, so keep you memories safe for those who shouldn't see" the man told him.

"And what are the price differences?" Harry questioned.

"The cheapest ones you can buy for between 200 and 250 galleons, then it's between 600 and 800 galleons and the most expensive ones are between 1200 and 1500 galleons"

"Then I'd like to see the models of the last category" Harry said.

"Of course, these are the three models that we have here" and he showed him the three different models.

"I would like to buy the one in blue stone please"

"Alright, if you could follow me to pay for it, then I'll wrap it up"

Harry nodded, got out his wallet and thought about the money he needed, before a piece of paper appeared, which he gave to the man.

After checking the piece of paper and transferring the gold, the man went to wrap up the pensive.

"Do you know how to work with a pensive?" the man asked.

"Yes, I'm familiar with them"

"Okay, if you have any problems, then you can always come back to ask for more information" the man said.

"Thank you for your help" Harry answered and left the store after putting the pensive in his backpack.

Then he quickly went towards Gringotts.

The moment he entered the bank, he was whisked away by a goblin, who told him to follow him. After walking a long way, he ended in a medieval like infirmary.

"Thank you for coming Mr. Potter" Sliptooth told him.

"Sliptooth, I should thank you for helping me with this problem. Without the help of Gringotts, I still wouldn't have known about this" Harry said politely.

"It is our pleasure, you family was already an important client of ours, but combining the Black and the Potter fortune, it made you one of the wealthier wizards in the world, so we are happy to help" Sliptooth said.

Harry nodded, a bit surprised about the wealth of his family and that of Sirius. "What do I need to do?"

"I have asked two of our best healers to come in today. They will help with releasing the blocks" Sliptooth answered.

"Alright, when do we start?"

"Now, if that is agreeable for you"

"Yes, the faster this is done, the better" Harry agreed.

Sliptooth nodded and snapped with his fingers, opening a door.

"I'll leave you in the good care of Gemrald and Diamoron" Sliptooth said before he left the infirmary.

"Good morning Mr. Potter, we are going to start with a full body scan, to see what we are dealing with here" Gemrald told him.

"Alright, what do I do?"

"You just go and lay down on this bed and relax, it will only take a few minutes" Gemrald explained.

Harry nodded and did what they had said. Laying on the bed, while he felt something tickling over his entire body, he thought about Tonks and what he wanted. He thought it was amazing that he felt so great and he didn't mind at all that they would be married, but he didn't want Tonks to miss out on everything that a marriage meant. Formulating a plan while the diagnostic scan ran over him, he had just formed the basic lines when Gemtooth asked his attention.

"It seems that you have multiple blocks on your magic, some older than the others, but our scans have picked up something dark around the scar on your forehead, so we'll perform another scan, but this might hurt a bit" Gemtooth warned him.

Harry didn't mind, he was used to have pain in his scar so he told him "Go ahead" and went to lay down again.

This time he did feel some pain in his forehead, but it was nothing compared to when it would hurt because of Voldemort. He continued thinking about his plans, which he would set in motion if he got out of Gringotts that day before Tonks.

"Mr. Potter, we know what the dark aura where your scar normally is. We believe that it is a horcrux, or the part of a person's soul, in your case that of Voldemort. We have the possibilities to remove it and we would advise you to do so, since Voldemort can't die before it is removed" Gemtooth explained.

The blood drained from Harry's face "You mean I have a piece of Voldemort's soul in my head? If you wouldn't remove it, what are the other possibilities to make it disappear?"

"Your death, otherwise there isn't another possibility. Nobody apart from goblins know that we have a technique to remove this" Gemtooth said.

"Alright, go ahead" Harry told them "Remove it, please"

"Of course, we will start with the removal of the horcrux, since it might be harder after we removed the blocks on your magic" Gemtooth elucidated.

"Please follow me then" Diamoron spoke for the first time.

Harry just followed them, trying to wrap his head around the fact that he had a piece of Voldemort in his head. They stopped in a weird room with a lot of symbols on the walls and floor.

"This is our ritual room, it is a safe place for us and you to remove the horcrux and place it in an animal as host" Diamoron said.

Harry just nodded and followed the directions of the two goblins of what he had to do. So before the ritual started, Harry was sitting cross-legged in the middle of the floor. He just had to close his eyes before they would start.

They started the ritual with slowly binding Harry with goblin magic so he couldn't move. Then they started chanting and applying more magic. It was a long time before Harry started to feel something, but then it started with lightheadedness with changed to pain. He wasn't really surprised that he would be in pain, but it was still bearable for him. After the pain receded again, the lightheadedness surrounded him again, before his head became clear again.

"We will now remove the bind Mr. Potter, we have successfully transferred the soul fragment to a host animal" Diamoron said while Harry started to feel his body move again.

"Thank you Diamoron and Gemrald" Harry earnestly said.

"No problem Mr. Potter, how do you feel?" Gemrald asked.

"I'm not sure actually, lighter, if that makes sense, more at peace" Harry tried to explain.

"It makes completely sense Mr. Potter, the soul fragment in your head were from a very evil wizard, so that could have affect you a lot. It is very likely that you will notice some changes in your character the next weeks, since your soul needs to adjust again to be alone in your head" Diamoron said.

"If you will now follow us again towards the infirmary, so we can explain the blocks you have" Gemrald asked.

"Of course" Harry said, getting up from the ground and following the goblins again.

In the infirmary, they lead Harry to a desk with a lot of pieces of parchment.

"This was the result of your diagnostic test, it seems that you have been through a lot in your life Mr. Potter" Diamoron said.

"Yes, after my parents died, I didn't really had the best upbringing and I tended to attract trouble in Hogwarts" Harry answered.

The goblin merely nodded before she started to explain "On this role, are the blocks you have on your magic. You can see that you got a block from your parents when you were only a few days old, which blocks your metamorphmagus magic. They also placed a magic compressing block on you when you were eight months old. Normally such blocks are removed when a child is seven or eight years old, but since their deaths, this probably didn't happen"

"Can you remove them?" Harry asked.

"Yes the removing itself shouldn't be a problem, but you also have other magic block that was placed on you the night of October 31st by Tom Riddle, probably unintentional. You also have a block placed on you when you were four years old by Albus Dumbledore, which restricts your intellectuality, another one when you were six years old by the same person that restricted your magic and he placed another one the day you entered Hogwarts" Gemrald described.

Harry felt angry towards the headmaster, for manipulating him so much and placing restrictions on him, but he had less trouble controlling it.

"The fact that you have multiple blocks on you and also multiple similar blocks, this will be painful. We can remove the blocks one by one, or we can remove them at once, but the pain could be unbearable" Diamoron said.

"You can remove them all at once, I'll handle it" Harry said, wanting to get rid of the blocks as fast as possible.

"No problem for us Mr. Potter, if you'll follow me again towards the ritual room" Gemrald said smiling a little bit which made Harry think it might not be such a good idea.

Once they were in the ritual room again, Harry had to go to the same place on the floor, but this time he had to lay down on his back with his arms and legs pointing towards some of the symbols on the floor.

"We are going to start like we did with the last ritual, only this one will be quicker, but a lot more painful" Diamoron said.

Harry just nodded and mentally braced himself for what would come. He felt the bind again, but quickly after that he felt a tingling in his entire body that rapidly started to feel as if his entire body was in fire. Till that point, it was still bearable for Harry and he didn't made a sound since he had always learned at a young age not to make any when he was hurting. Harry was starting to get accustomed to the burning feeling when the tingling started to get worse and it was like they were putting swords over his entire body. A tear flowed from his eye from the pain he was in, but he still didn't made a sound, even though it felt worse than the cruciatus curse Voldemort had put him under. Then, it all stopped at once. All the pain he had felt had disappeared.

Harry felt the binds being released and the two goblins neared him.

"How do you feel Mr. Potter" Diamoron asked.

"Confused about the sudden release of the pain" Harry answered.

"You are a strange human Mr. Potter. The few people we have put through the release of a block were screaming of pain and the one we had to remove three blocks fainted in the middle of the ritual" Gemrald told him.

"I'm used to pain I'm afraid" Harry explained.

The two goblins were speechless for a moment before Diamoron asked "How do you feel now?"

"Powerful, like the space in my head doubled and I feel magic running through my veins" Harry tried to describe.

"It is normal that you would feel more powerful, your magic has amplified four times, but we added a part in the ritual that will allow you to keep this magic under control. I believe you already figured out that the clarity in your mind is because of the removal of the intelligence block. And the magic you feel in you veins should have two dimensions, the first one is because of the amplification of you magic, the other part is your metamorphmagus magic" Diamoron clarified.

"Will I have the side effects that I will go through a rainbow with emotions?" Harry asked.

"No we don't thinks so since you already learned how to control you magic, so this magic, like you accidental magic is already under control. I have no idea what effect it will have on learning to change your appearances, but it appears that your blue hair and blue eyes is a preferred form for you, so you will probably find it easy to change back to this form while you are practicing" Gemrald explained.

"Thank you for all the help you have provided me, what can I do to compensate this?" Harry asked.

"You don't have to do anything Mr. Potter, your family has always been very respectful towards goblins and you have a lot of money here, so we are already earning a lot with you" Diamoron said.

Harry nodded "I really appreciate the help you have given me"

"The pleasure was ours" the two goblins answered together.

Diamoron snapped with her fingers and a door opened again, where Sliptooth was already waiting to escort Harry back to the lobby.

Once they were there, Harry thanked Sliptooth again and made his way out of Gringotts. Since Tonks wasn't there yet, he started with his plans he had made and went to look for a magical jewelry. He found one close to Flourish and Blotts and entered.

"Good afternoon, how can I help you this morning?" the shop assistant asked.

"I'm looking for engagement rings" Harry told her.

The young woman smile and waved him over to a display "Are you looking one for you girlfriend or for the both of you?"

"I'd like to have one for both of us" Harry replied.

"Of course, we have couple engagement rings over here" and she waved her hand over a part of the display.

Harry didn't need much time to look at them, since his eye fell on two rings immediately.

"Those please" Harry said and he pointed towards an elegant platinum ring with a diamond in the middle and little diamonds over the rest of the ring, the other ring was wider with just small diamonds over the entire ring.

"It seems you are certain about your choice?" the woman asked.

"Yes, they are perfect" Harry simply replied.

"Alright, it is possible to put a few spells on them"

"What are the possibilities?" Harry questioned.

"Self-adjusting, self-cleaning, a spell that allows you to make them invisible everybody except you and your fiancé that you can switch on or off and a spell that only allows yourself or your partner to remove the ring" the shop assistant described.

"I would like to have all those spells on both of the rings" Harry told her.

The woman just nodded and waved her wand over them in a very intricate pattern.

"There you go, that would make the total of 900 galleons" the woman said a bit nervously.

Harry again got out his wallet and gave her a payment note. "Thank you for your help"

"No problem, good luck with the proposal"

Harry nodded and left the shop. He put the ring away in his backpack and quickly went to Flourish and Blotts again to buy some books about business, goblin relations and politics before he headed back to the Leaky Cauldron.

Once back in muggle London, he made his way to the clothing store. He was glad to go back to where Tonks was, since he had missed her during the morning.

In the store, he made his way to the woman section and went to look for the lime green hair Tonks had at that moment. He didn't find them at the racks, so he made his way to the changing rooms. There he found Mary, but he silenced her with a signal.

When Tonks came out a few minutes later, Harry swirled her and kissed her on her lips before she knew what was happening. It only took her a fraction of a second before she knew it was Harry because of the bond that calmed her directly.

After the tender kiss Tonks wrapped her arms around Harry and hugged him.

"I've missed you this morning" Harry told her.

Tonks looked him in the eyes for a moment before she replied "I missed you too" and planted another kiss on his lips.

A cough from behind them reminded them that they weren't alone.

"Sorry" Harry sheepishly said.

"Don't apologize, you two are really cute" Mary told them. "But we should continue"

Tonks nodded but said "Don't worry, we almost have everything of clothes and sportswear, then it's only the shoes left"

"Take your time, alright" Harry assured her.

Tonks nodded, gave him another quick kiss before she disappeared in the fitting room again.

Three changes later, they had everything and Mary placed a lot of clothes behind the counter before they went to the shoes section.

There Harry even helped looking for shoes. While Harry was looking around, Mary quickly whispered "You're lucky, I haven't seen that many men interested in helping shopping for their girlfriend of wife before"

"I know I'm lucky and not only because of that" Tonks whispered back.

Mary nodded and then went to look for shoes herself. Tonks took a little over an hour to pick her shoes and settled on six pairs of normal shoes and two pairs of running shoes.

They helped carrying the boxes to the cash register and Mary started scanning all the items.

Harry asked Tonks "Do you know what time it is, I really have no idea after everything at the bank"

"It's a little past two, was everything alright at the bank?" Tonks asked a bit concerned.

"I've found out some interesting things, but they helped me out really well. I'll tell you about it this evening, alright?"

Tonks nodded and Harry put his arm around her waist while they were waiting for all the items to be scanned.

Eventually Mary said "That will be 11460 pounds in total"

Tonks smiled and swiped her credit card through the machine again and signed the receipt. Done with that she asked "I was wondering if you wanted to join us for lunch since I made you miss two of your breaks"

"Let me ask my boss, I'll be right back" Mary told them.

"I hope you don't mind" Tonks asked Harry.

"No, not at all, after helping you for six hours, I believe she deserves some lunch" Harry said smiling.

Mary came back with a smile and said "I can just stop for today my boss said, I only have an hour left and after the two big sells is did today and yesterday, he found it only reasonable to do something back"

"Great, do you know a nice place to eat something? We don't really know that much around here" Tonks asked.

"Yes, I know just the place, but we might start with taking your bags away. I'll even help" Mary told them.

Alright, luckily we don't need to go that far" Tonks agreed.

The three of them all took a couple of bags before they left the store. While walking towards the hotel, they were talking a bit about Mary's job.

When Harry entered the hotel first, Mary looked at them a bit strange.

"We are staying here for a couple of weeks, so we can decide what to do next" Tonks explained.

"A couple of weeks?" Mary asked bewildered.

"Yeah, come on, we shouldn't stay in the entrance" Tonks said and started moving again.

They all took the elevator to the right floor and went to Harry and Tonks' room. Once they had placed all the bags on the bed Mary couldn't help herself and said "You really inherited quite a lot if you can stay here for a couple of weeks"

"Yes, that and the fact that we don't have an apartment or house to go to yet doesn't gives us that much options" Harry said.

Mary just nodded while they left the room again. She was quiet while they were walking to the restaurant she had thought of.

When they were there she said "I hope this is an okay place?"

"Of course it is, it's not since we have a lot of money that we need to eat in the best restaurants… Yesterday we ate in a little tavern, so don't worry" Tonks said with a smile.

"Alright, come on, a friend of mine is the owner" Mary told them and went inside.

It was a small and cozy restaurant. There weren't that many people there, but that was understandable since it was three in the afternoon.

"Hey Jim, could we get something to eat?" Mary asked him.

"Of course Mary, just pick a table" the man behind the bar told her.

They took a little table and talked a bit and their meal arrived when Mary asked how they met each other.

"Are you alright if I talk about it?" Tonks asked Harry a bit concerned.

Harry nodded so Tonks started "I met Harry when I got him from his relatives so he could spent some time with my cousin, Sirius. Sirius was Harry's godfather, but he hadn't really had the chance before to spend a lot of time with Harry. That was less than a year ago I think. I've seen Harry around a bit in the few weeks he spent with his godfather before he had to go back to school. Then in the Christmas break I saw him again. It were all short encounters, but we always got along quite well"

Tonks had to take a deep breath before she could continue and she also took Harry's hand for the comfort it gave her "In May, Sirius died and I contacted Harry since I wanted to know how he was doing. We talked every day for long amount of times and when we saw each other when he came back from school a few day back, there was just a connection that we couldn't ignore"

"Wow" was the only thing Mary was able to make out in the beginning before she said "I'm sorry"

"No problem, Tonks already helped me a lot with processing Sirius' death. I don't know where I would be without her" Harry admitted.

"Being angry and not talking to anyone" Tonks said.

"Yeah, probably" Harry agreed "My friends pushed me to talk about my Sirius, while that was the one thing I couldn't do. Tonks just listened and talked about other stuff, helped me study and when I wanted to talk about Sirius, she was there for me"

"I think Sirius would be glad to see you two now" Mary told them.

"Thanks, he would take the mickey out of us, but he would be happy for us" Harry agreed.

"He was quite the prankster" Tonks clarified.

"And according to the stories, especially when it was Sirius and my father" Harry said with a little smile.

"Harry's father, Sirius, Remus and another friend were a group that was famous for their pranks at the boarding school they attended. The teachers hated and loved them" Tonks said "I heard a lot of stories from my mother about it"

"Sounds like you had a great father and godfather" Mary said, not knowing what else she could tell.

"They were, or in my father's case, so I've heard" Harry responded.

"How do you mean?" Mary asked.

"My parents were murdered when I was younger. Sadly I don't have any memories about them" Harry explained.

"You really have had a rough time if I hear it like that?"

"That is an understatement, but it's also made him the great guy he is now" Tonks said and she squeezed his hand.

"Now to change the subject, what do you do in your free time?" Harry asked.

"I'm a student at the university of London and I work part-time in the store during the school year and fulltime during the vacations, so I don't have that much free time, but I like going out with my friends" Mary told them.

"What do you study?" Tonks asked.

"Law" Mary answered "I'm in my third year for the moment"

"Wow and what do you want to do when you're done studying?" Tonks asked.

"I want to specialize in child abuse and neglect, and hopefully help some children who can't speak for themselves" Mary explained.

Harry tensed for a moment before he spoke "I think that's a really noble idea. I hope you can help a lot of children in the future, but there is also a lot of work further down the chain so children are listened to when they ring the alarm bell"

Mary looked at him for a moment before she spoke "You're right. Sadly a lot of people don't take a child serious or the parents are able to suppress the child enough so they are afraid to contact someone"

"Or both" Harry said.

"I'm sorry if I'm blunt, but that's what happened to you, isn't it?"

"Yes, after my parents were murdered, I was sent to my aunt and uncle and their treatment wasn't that good. I once told my teacher, but he just informed my relatives about it" Harry told her, amazed by himself that he was able to tell it to her, but Tonks rubbing circles on his hand with her thumb might have helped. "The clothes we bought yesterday were the first new clothes I got that I can remember, except from my school uniform"

"Well, I'm glad I was able to help with at least that" Mary said.

Harry smiled "You're going to be a good lawyer Mary, you listen to a person, that's already an important step, definitely if you work with children"

"Thank you" Mary said with a smile. "What do you two do?"

"I work at a police department" Tonks told her "But I can't really tell you that much about it"

"And I'm a student in a boarding school in Scotland" Harry told her.

"I don't want to pry, but aren't you too young to be on your own?" Mary asked.

"I'm his legal guardian for another three weeks" Tonks made up "After I found out a few weeks ago about his relatives, I set the wheels in motion so he wouldn't have to go back to them"

Mary nodded "So you're almost eighteen then?" she posed the question towards Harry.

"Yes, although you wouldn't say based on my stature, but that is mostly because of my relatives" Harry said, going with the story.

"I'm glad for you two, really and I'm happy I was able to help you two out a bit"

"It was also nice to have someone help us" Tonks said "Imagine that we had to do that on our own"

"No thank you" Harry said with a wink towards Tonks.

"Actually, I should thank you. We get a bonus of five percent on what we sell, so thanks to you I'm quite a lot richer after working today and yesterday" Mary told them.

"Glad to hear that" Harry said.

"Now I don't want to be rude, but I have plans for the evening, so I should better leave" Mary explained.

"No problem, it was nice to get to know you and thank you for all the help" Tonks said another time.

"My pleasure, are you sure I don't have to pay my share of the food?"

"Yes, very sure" and Harry gave her a smile.

Mary nodded and left the restaurant. Harry and Tonks went to pay for their food before they left the restaurant and made their way back to the hotel. On their way they talked about Mary and Tonks' morning.

When they were finally in their room Tonks asked "Could you now tell me about your morning?"

Harry nodded, went to sit on the bed with his back against the wall and padded next to him so Tonks would come and sit next to him. When she finally did so, Harry placed his arm around her and started to tell her about his visit to Gringotts. Tonks remained mostly silent, listening to his story.

"So how do you feel about everything" Tonks questioned when he was done telling about his morning.

"I'm really relieved that I don't have piece of Voldemort in my head anymore, but I don't understand why nobody else knew about this" Harry mused.

"Or they did" Tonks said. "If I look at your history, the parts I know, then we can safely say that Dumbledore manipulated you, like you were a pawn on a chessboard. Who says he didn't knew you were a horcrux, but that is was just another maneuver in his play"

"That was what I thought about it. Since he placed those blocks on my during my stay with the Dursleys before Hogwarts, he must have known about my treatment there and he didn't do anything about that either"

"I'm glad you are away from his manipulations and that I left the Order" Tonks told him.

"You're not the only one" and Harry pulled her closer to himself.

"So how do you feel now that the soul fragment and the blocks are removed?"

"Different, to say the least. I feel my magic running over my entire body, which is apparently divided in my magic itself and my metamorphmagus magic. I also have the feeling that I have much more capacity to learn" Harry explained.

"Are you happy with the change?"

"Definitely. I don't feel angry anymore all the time and more free. It's quite an amazing feeling" Harry said with a smile.

"I'm really glad to hear that" Tonks said "Did you know that the more our bond will form, the more we will get each other's abilities?"

"No, can you tell me more about it?"

"Of course. I'll start with explaining bonds to you if that is alright?" After a nod from Harry she continued "You normally have live bond, a love bond and a soul bond. A life bond is quite common and it results in a better understanding of the other and a better relationship. A love bond sets the love of a person and will protect the couple to attempts to break their bond, it will also help with understanding each other like with the life bond. The soul bond is generally known as the strongest bond and it happens about once in five to ten years. Couples who have a soul bond will be able to feel the others feeling to some extent and their relationship will be protected. With me so far?"

"I believe so, which one of the three do we have?"

"None of the three" Tonks answered with a smile. "We have something only a very select few people know about. When someone is identified as a metamorphmagus with the ministry, they get a book that helps them and their family to train their powers, but there is also some background about metamorphmagi. They describe that a bond can only occur between two metamorphmagi and that it is even stronger than a soul bond. The couple is described to receive the abilities of the other, since they are so connected, the bond searches for equality. It is also described how the couple will start to feel each other's emotions and in some cases with two strong people, they are able to communicate through their mind. According to the book, this should start the moment the second phase is started and the more intimate, emotionally and physically, you become, the more the equilibrium will be reached"

"That's amazing and scary" Harry admitted.

"I agree, I don't know what will happen exactly and that scares me, but I also think it's exciting to see what will happen in the future"

Harry nodded and yawned "Sorry, my visit to Gringotts took a lot of strength out of me"

"No problem, you can go to sleep even though it is still early. I can read or something like that, maybe even watch some television"

"Alright, do you think I should take the potions for my sight today?"

"Yeah why not, I'll just set an alarm with my wand when you have to take the next potion" Tonks agreed.

Harry nodded again before he got out of bed and took his pajamas and went to the bathroom. He quickly changed and then got into bed.

"Here" Tonks handed him the first potion.

Harry smiled, carefully caressed Tonks' cheek before kissing her softly "Good night and thanks"

"Good night Harry" Tonks said before giving him another kiss.

Harry downed the potion and then went to lay down. He was asleep in seconds, so Tonks set her alarm and went to retrieve a book they had bought at Diagon Alley. An hour later, her alarm went off, which she quickly quieted. She shook Harry half-awake so she could give him his potion, before he just fell asleep again. This time she set her alarm for eight hours. She read some more, ate some dinner which she had ordered before she also went to sleep. In the middle of the night, her alarm went off again, but Harry didn't woke up from it, but Tonks did. Like the second potion, she woke Harry just enough so he would drink the potion before they both went to sleep again.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

The next morning Harry woke up first, feeling extremely rested. When he opened his eyes, he had to blink multiple times because of the clarity he saw with. It was only after a few minutes that he realized that it was because of the potions he had taken, although he couldn't remember taking them. He carefully released Tonks from the hold he had taken her in again and pushed him up a bit. He could see better than he could remember, he was amazed by the amount of detail there was.

It was only then that he saw the empty vials on Tonks' bedside table and he remembered that she had promised him to help him taking them. He then looked at Tonks and was mesmerized by her. He was looking at her for a long time, taking in every detail he could before he couldn't hold himself back anymore and brushed his lips on hers.

A smile spread on Tonks' face and her eyes opened. "I like waking up like that" she said a little bit groggy.

"Sorry, I didn't meant to wake you" Harry told her.

"I don't mind" Tonks said and kissed him back, only this time, when she wanted to break the short kiss, Harry places his hand on her cheek and kept her there.

Harry was nervous he would do something wrong, but his feelings overruled every thought he might have. He carefully deepened the kiss and started moving his lips over hers. He reveled in the feeling and the emotions he felt doing so. When he looked at Tonks while doing so, he could see the same on her face.

Eventually breaking the kiss because they needed to breath, Harry wrapped his arms around Tonks so her head rested on his shoulder.

"If I get to wake up every morning like that, I'll never mind doing so ever again" Tonks said.

Harry smiled, he didn't knew why he had deepened the kiss, except that it felt right and he definitely didn't regret his decision. "I don't mind waking you up like that"

"What time is it?" Tonks asked.

"It's a little after seven, sorry to wake you that early"

"No problem, when I was an auror is had to get up even earlier"

"So what are we going to do today?"

"We should start today with getting into shape and we might do the hardest thing today and go through your memories, that way it's over" Tonks suggested.

Harry sighted "That's a good idea, come on, let's get up"

"Do you want to run before or after breakfast?"

"Before, I always have trouble sporting after I've eaten much"

"Alright, then we should just change in our sportswear and take a shower after our run and then take breakfast" Tonks laid it out.

"Fine by me, I'll be back in a minute" Harry said before he got out of bed and took some clothes out the closet.

Once they were both dressed, they went downstairs and started running at an easy pace.

"Are you used to running?" Harry asked.

"I liked to stay physically fit, since it helped me during a duel and thanks to a dad that is muggleborns, I am used to running" Tonks answered.

"Me too, I started running in my third year, but mostly because it helped me during quidditch"

They ran for forty minutes next to the Thames before they were back at the hotel.

"Not bad for a first day, we should try to push that so we run longer and faster" Tonks suggested.

Harry nodded and opened the hotel door for Tonks. They walked hand in hand to their room, just enjoying the little physical contact they had.

"Is it alright if I shower first?" Tonks asked.

"Of course, I'm going to pick out some clothes and put everything into place for today" Harry answered before Tonks gave him a short kiss.

When Tonks had disappeared in the bathroom, Harry started to pick out some clothes for the day and his shoes, before he started to place the pensive on the little table at their two armchairs. He grabbed Tonks' wand for safety and started to place his memories in the pensive in the order he wanted to show them too Tonks. He was still doing so when Tonks came out of the bathroom, but he didn't notice her. He just kept pouring memories in it until he was done. After that he tapped the rune on the pensive that secured the memories before he turned around and gaped, since Tonks stood there with just a towel around her.

"Where you there for a long time" Harry managed to ask.

"No, just a few minutes, good thinking to use my wand, it's better to be safe" Tonks told him.

Harry nodded before he grabbed his clothes and headed to the shower.

After breakfast, Tonks led a not so enthusiastic Harry to their room. Once there, she placed him in one of the armchairs and put her hands on his "It's going to be alright, if you want a break, just tell me, alright?"

Harry nodded before he said "The first memory is the earliest memory I have, but it isn't pretty"

"Alright, let's start and get this over with" Tonks said.

Harry grabbed her hand before the dove into the pensive. It was the scene of October 31st in 1981 when Harry's parents got killed. How Harry saw his father being killed by the wand of Voldemort, while his mother was running upstairs to the nursery. That Voldemort was ruthless in killing his mother, before pointing his want to Harry himself.

When they got out of the pensive after the memory, Tonks was ashen white.

"Are you alright?" Harry asked.

"Nobody should remember how their own parents got killed, I'm sorry Harry"

Harry didn't respond on that but said "This memory started to come back to me in my third year when the dementors were there. It is one of my most feared and treasured memories"

When Harry saw a confused look on Tonks' face he explained "It is quite clear why it is my most feared memory I think, but on the other hand, it showed me my parents loved me more than I had thought before that and it gave me an idea of my parents voices, which I wouldn't have known otherwise"

"I can understand that, do you want to do the next memory?" Tonks asked.

Harry took a deep breath and said "This will show you my treatment at the Dursleys, if you want to get out, I would understand"

Bracing herself for what she would see, Harry and Tonks again went into Harry's memories.

This time the memories showed Tonks how Harry lived at the Dursleys. How they shoved him in his cupboard for days for things he didn't do, without food and only a little bit of water. It also showed her how his aunt and uncle encouraged their son to beat Harry and hunt him down. How they would punish him when he couldn't meet their standards and how those would get worse and worse. She saw how they started to beat him, to whipping him, to even making burn marks on his body and breaking his bones. Tears were running down Tonks' cheeks, while Harry softly rubbed her back.

When they reemerged from the pensive after that, Harry just held Tonks, while she started to process what she had just seen, while Harry tried to comfort her.

"I should be comforting you and not the other way around" Tonks said when she had calmed down a bit.

"You are seeing this for the first time, while I lived with this, relived this in my dreams and started to come to terms with it" Harry countered.

"I should have killed those bastards when they dropped you off" Tonks grumbled.

"No, as much as I hate them, killing them isn't the right answer" Harry said.

Tonks nodded, knowing he was right.

"This was the worst of their treatment, after I got admitted at Hogwarts, they were more careful since they didn't want any wizard or witch to find out. I believe they were afraid what would happen then" Harry told her. "The next memories are a bit lighter if you're up to it?"

"I'm fine, let's go" so they got into the pensive again.

This time, Harry showed her his accidental magic. It started with small things, like a vase that didn't broke when it fell and stuff, before he showed her when he was running from Dudley and his friends and the next thing he was on the roof.

"You first apparated when you were so young?" Tonks asked in disbelief.

"Yes, I was six years I think, I belief that might have been the reason that Dumbledore put another block on me" Harry thought out loud.

Then the scenery shifted again and Tonks saw how Harry changed the color of his teachers wig to blue after he had humiliated Harry.

After that scene, it changed to a scene that interested Tonks the most, where Harry's hair was cut off. They observed how Harry kept praying in his cupboard that he didn't had to go to school like that.

"Close your eyes and try to feel the magic" Tonks said to him.

Harry did what Tonks told him and she was right, because he could feel some magic coming from his younger self, that he felt flowing through his veins.

"It's that tingling feeling I can feel" Harry told her with a smile.

Tonks nodded "This will help you with your training, that you know how your metamorphmagus magic feels. I needed two years to finally feel it and distinguish it from my normal magic"

Harry smiled and gave her a kiss, while the scenery changed again that showed Harry in the London Zoo. This time he heard how he spoke parseltongue and it was strange for him to hear so, but still understand.

"I'm sorry to say, but that language gives me the creeps" Tonks shuddered.

"Sorry, it's the first time I hear it like that and I must agree" Harry said before he pulled Tonks out of the pensive again.

After a few moments of silence Harry said "Is it alright if I show you one last memory before we get some lunch?"

"Of course, we could already order room service, it always takes them a while" Tonks suggested.

Harry agreed so they quickly picked some lunch and ordered it for in a half an hour before they went to the pensive again.

"This is one of my nicer memories" Harry said with a smile.

The next twenty minutes, Tonks saw how Harry's first letter arrived, only for more and more letters to arrive because they stayed unanswered, before the scenery changed to the hut on the rocks. It showed how Hagrid gave him his letter, told him he was a wizard and gave him his first cake ever. The memory ended with his trip to Diagon Alley, where only the part at Olivanders was a little more dark, but it was quickly overshadowed by the amazement younger Harry had over Diagon Alley. The memory ended with Hagrid giving Hedwig.

When they came out of the memory, Harry was smiling, thinking back to his first impression of the wizarding world.

"That was the first and only birthday I got to celebrate" Harry told her.

"What do you mean the only birthday?" Tonks asked.

"All the birthdays before and after were when I was with the Dursleys and they had another idea of celebrating, more in the lines of my seconds memories is showed you" Harry explained her.

Tonks wanted to reply but was stopped by a knock on the door. They got their lunch and quietly ate it.

"I'm going to make sure you have another birthday to celebrate" Tonks told him while she took his hand and squeezed it.

The earnest smile that Harry gave her was all she needed to feel warmth and happiness flow through her.

The rest of the afternoon, they went over Harry's memories from Hogwarts and the last week, when they were finally done Tonks said "It's amazing that you went through so much and survived"

"It's the one thing I'm really good at" Harry said with a wink. "But now we should do something fun for the rest of the evening"

"I agree, but first we should go for another run, it will also help me clear my head and organize what I saw today" Tonks told him.

After changing and going downstairs, Harry and Tonks headed back to the Thames to run next to it. Tonks had been right that going for a run would clear their minds, because it helped both Harry and Tonks. Harry was relieved that showing his memories was over, and he was also glad that Tonks knew what he had gone through in his life, even though she was the only one. Tonks was also trying to wrap her head around the memories she had seen. It had gone from the abuse at the Dursleys, to the amazing things he lived through, facing Voldemort more than anybody else could say.

Pushing themselves, they ran even longer than that morning, but that was mostly since their minds were occupied and the even pace of running helped them, when they eventually came back in the hotel, both Tonks and Harry were completely out of breath and covered in sweat. The doorman of the hotel looked at them and had trouble not to look disgusted by the state the two entered.

"Why don't you take a shower first" Tonks offered "You're always quicker than I am"

Harry nodded and went to the bathroom to take a quick shower. Once he was done, he just dumped his running clothes in the laundry basket and left the bathroom only covered with a towel.

"I could get used to that view" Tonks remarked.

Harry blushed and quickly went to the closet to take out fresh clothes. Tonks merely chuckled and went to the bathroom. When Harry was clothed again, he went to the phone and made some calls, to prepare for an evening of fun.


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

When Tonks came out of the bathroom, nicely dressed, Harry was reading the second chapter in his book about Occlumency, while sitting on the bed.

"If you just give me a few minutes, then I can finish this chapter" Harry told her.

"Of course" Tonks said and just nestled herself next to Harry, enjoying the proximity while he was reading.

When he had ended his chapter he said "Ready to go?"

"Where are we going?" Tonks asked.

"That's a surprise, come on" Harry told her with a smile that she couldn't refuse.

Grabbing his hand, she followed him out of the hotel and through London. They had been walking for ten minutes, when Harry stopped before an establishment. He went inside and towards the waiter that was waiting at the door.

"I have made reservations in the name of Jameson" Harry told him.

"Of course, please follow me" the waiter said and led them to a table of two. He gave them each a menu and lighted the candle before he left them alone.

"You've been busy while I was in the showers" Tonks said.

"I was, I thought it would be nice to go on a real date"

"It is nice, thank you" Tonks told him before she set some privacy wards. "I know we have this bond, and it makes everything feel so right between us, but I'm flattered that you still go through the trouble of preparing a date"

"I didn't want to rely on the bond that everything would work out. I wanted to do something for you and with you" Harry responded.

Tonks smiled and took his hand "Why don't we play 20 questions?"

Harry looked at her questioning "I've never heard of that, care to explain first?"

"You can ask 20 questions to the other, but you also have to answer them yourself" Tonks clarified.

"Fine by me, do we ask questions alternating?" Harry asked.

"Yes, that way it's less like a cross-examination. I'll start, what is your favorite color, mine's coral blue"

"Red, but that might be a bit biased from Gryffindor. What is your favorite food?" Harry asked.

"Everything Italian, but I like a good lasagna the best. You?"

"Pies, but Shepherd's pie is my favorite"

"You're lucky since there is one on the menu" Tonks said before she asked "What is your favorite holiday?"

"Since Hogwarts I would have to say Christmas" Harry said with a smile.

"I've always like St. Patrick's Day, my father is Irish and he was really into the holiday, I guess it grew on me"

"What is the last book you read?"

"An auror book about defense and yours I know. 'Closing of your mind' " Tonks said with a wink "What is your favorite place?"

"I don't know honestly. I always loved Hogwarts and it was my first home, but with everything that happened and everything I found out, I'm not sure it is my favorite place anymore. I would have to say London in general, since I'm the happiest here than I've ever been, definitely since you are here too" Harry told her.

Tonks' heart skipped a beat when he said that. "I have a secret place near the place my parents live. It's an open spot in the woods, where the sun shines really bright and brings the woods to live"

"It sounds like a very nice place. Now what is your favorite flavored bean, mine are the buttered popcorn ones?"

"I like the green apples the best, they are sour and sweet" Tonks answered, but waited to ask the next question because the waiter was there to take their orders.

"I'd like the Shepherd's pie please and a glass of water" Harry ordered.

"For me the lasagna and a glass of red house wine" Tonks said.

The waited nodded and disappeared again.

"Alright, now what is your favorite drink?" Tonks questioned.

"Butterbeer or pumpkin juice, they are the only drinks I've tried except from water, milk and tea" Harry admitted.

"We will have to change that" Tonks said and she waived the waiter back "Could you bring two glasses of wine instead of one"

"Of course" the waited told them and disappeared again.

"I like to drink a glass of wine, but I prefer the muggle kind, they are better than the wines they try to make with magic" Tonks told him.

The waiter came back with the two glasses of wine and the glass of water and put it in front of Harry and Tonks.

Harry carefully took the glass of wine and took a sip. His face changed from apprehension to a smile "Not bad"

"We're going to work on your taste pallet" Tonks informed him.

"I wouldn't mind that" Harry told her with a smile "Now what is something you would like to learn? I would like to learn and control my metamorphmagus magic"

"There are a lot of things I would like to improve, but I really would like to learn to become an animagus, after Sirius, that was something I really wanted to try"

"Luckily we were planning on doing so, that's also something I really want to learn, but controlling my morphing tops the list"

"I can understand that, now what is your favorite music?" Tonks asked.

"I don't really know that many artists or bands, but the Weird Sisters were good when I saw them at the Yule Ball in my fourth year"

"The Weird Sisters are my favorite band, so good chose" Tonks told him.

Harry smiled before he asked "What was your first celebrity crush?"

Tonks started to blush "If you laugh with me, I'll hex you. Alright, it was you, my parents always told me stories about how you defeated Voldemort and I would think of stories of the both of us"

"Has every witch under 25 the same crush" Harry grumbled, but he winked at Tonks "Mine was an actress in one of Dudley's series, I don't know her name, but she looked really nice"

"That's actually cute, now what is a weird thing you do if you're alone?"

Harry thought for a moment "I rearrange my trunk often when I'm alone" he said a bit questioning.

"That's definitely not something everybody does when they are alone, I like to sing under the shower when I know I'm alone" Tonks told him.

Harry wanted to ask his next question, but he saw their food arriving, so he waited a moment until it stood in front of them and they had tasted their food.

"Tell me a random fact about yourself" Harry asked.

"I liked History of Magic, even though Binns gave it"

"Really, I have to admit I don't really recount that much from the lessons, I always just read my book. Euhm, I really hate flies"

Tonks chuckled before she posed her next question "Do you have a hidden talent?"

"I have actually, although I haven't been able to practice it much the last years, but I play the piano" Harry told her "I used to play at my primary school during as many breaks I could get permission"

"I'd like to hear you play sometimes" Tonks honestly said "I'm quite good at drawing actually, mostly faces"

"Okay, now please don't shoot me, but what is your full name?" Harry asked

Tonks sighted "Nymphadora Chamaeleon Tonks, my mother liked the tradition of the Black family of constellations, so she gave it as my second name and she thought it was fitting with my morphing skills. Since I don't really have to ask about your full name, I'll just ask the next question, if you could get a tattoo, what would you take?"

Harry smiled "I would put the stars of the Canis Major on my chest"

"Tibi ipsi fidelis esto, it means stay true to yourself, I would place it on my ribs" Tonks said. "Would you really want to get it?"

"Yes, it would mean I have Sirius always with me" Harry said. "And I also liked the idea of a phoenix tattoo, it would be fitting, since I'm rebuilding my life. But for both of the tattoos, I'm not sure if I would want everybody to be able to see them"

"That is an advantage of being a metamorphmagus, if you are really skilled, you can place tattoos on your body, but also, you can hide real tattoos. I've always wanted to place a real one, that sentence, but I never had the guts" Tonks explained.

"Then maybe one day we can get both our tattoos together" Harry suggested.

Tonks smiled "I would like that"

"Okay, I would think a next question is in order, what is your fondest memory?"

"It was when I eight I think, me and my parents were going to a beach for the first time, since I was able to control my morphing then. We just relax, ate some ice cream, build a large sand castle" Tonks answered.

"Mine is when I went to Diagon Alley for the first time" Harry told her.

"Alright, I know that you've broken quite a lot of rules, but what was the worst rule breaking you've done?"

"I don't know, perhaps in my first year when we kept it quite that Hagrid had a baby dragon in his hut, then smuggled it to the tallest tower of the castle during the middle night so that Charlie's friends could pick it up. We got discovered on our way back an lost 150 points for wandering through the castle at night"

"You really are full of surprises, aren't you. Mine is also a story that centers a bit around Charlie, he was my friend at Hogwarts and one night in our seventh year, we slipped out of Hogwarts and went to Hogsmeade because the Weird Sisters were playing. Luckily the only thing they busted us on was when we were falling asleep the next day in class" Tonks told him.

"I wonder what would have happened if they had found out" Harry said "Now what was your worst injury you've had?"

"My left side of my body was burned once during auror training, that was the worst I think. It took three days before my skin was back to normal and pain free"

"I'm not quite sure which one I should take, but the time I fell off my broom in my second year during the match, then broke my arm, got my bones removed by Lockhart, only to regrow them during the night, probably was the worst experience I had in Madam Pomfrey's care"

"I'm guessing you don't really mind his fate then"

"Nope, can't say I do" Harry told her.

"Alright, what is your biggest regret?

"Falling for Voldemort's scheme that eventually led to Sirius' death. I know I don't carry all the blame and that the reason I fell for it was because I wasn't informed of anything, but still, it is my biggest regret. Convincing Cedric to take the Triwizard Cup together, even though it was the right thing to do at that moment, is my second biggest regret"

Tonks who was done eating, took Harry's hand and carefully stroked over it. "Mine is that I didn't hex you relatives a few day ago" Tonks said with fire in her eyes.

Harry decided not to say something about it but asked "What is you guilty pleasure?"

"A pint of ice cream" Tonks said "I know, it's a bit cliché"

"It is, mine was sneaking out of my room or cupboard when the Dursleys weren't home and watch some television"

"We're at the half of our questions" Tonks remarked.

"We're also at the half of our date, come on" and Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the back of the establishment.

When they went through a door, bowling lanes were visible. "I thought some fun would be nice"

"I like it, but I've never done this" Tonks told him.

"You and me both, I've always wanted to do this, and I thought you would like this too"

"I do, come on let's start" Tonks said eagerly.

"Alright, we just have to change shoes first" Harry told her and pointed to the racks of shoes.

After putting on shoes, they were appointed a bowling lane and they could start. Harry was the first and his first throw landed in the gutter, but his second shot knocked down three pins.

When Tonks had thrown twice and knocked down six pins she asked "What is your favorite animal?"

"An owl and more specifically Hedwig" Harry told her.

"I'm more a cat person if I'm honest"

"Alright, if you could choose your animagus form, what would it be?"

"I'm not sure, but I think I would also go with a cat, they don't attract attention and you can get at various places you otherwise wouldn't get and they have very good senses"

Harry smiled "I always wanted to be an owl to be honest, the ability to fly everywhere you want to"

"I should have known, okay, what is the craziest thing you've ever done?"

"I would say trying to outfly a dragon on a broom" Harry responded.

"Good point, mine was at Hogwarts, posing as professor McGonagall as a practical joke on some of our peers, I had the bad luck that the real McGonagall found out"

Harry had trouble keeping himself from laughing, so he distracted himself with another throw at the pins. "Where would you like to go on a holiday?" he asked after his throw.

"Brazil, I met a student of the wizarding school her through a letter exchange project, it would be nice to go there" Tonks answered. "You?"

"I would like to go to Greece, I was always fascinated by them when I was in primary school"

"That sounds nice. Now, maybe some more interesting questions" Tonks said with an evil glint in her eyes "What was your first kiss?"

"Cho Chang last year under the mistletoe" Harry truthfully answered.

"A guy named Nick in my fourth year. I quite liked him, but he mostly saw me for my morphing" Tonks told him.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"A lot of the boys and men I've met liked me and wanted to date me because I can change in whoever I want to" Tonks told him and a tear rolled out of her eye.

Harry quickly closed the space between them and wiped the tear away before he kissed her and said "Then they are jerks if they can't see you for the wonderful person you are"

Tonks face change immediately from sad to happy and kissed him again, but this time a little longer. "Thank you"

"No problem, now, what is your biggest insecurity?" Harry asked her while he still held her close.

"Like I said before, that a person only likes me for my morphing ability, you?"

"The fact that I'm a scrawny kid with multiple scars, physically and mentally" Harry told her.

"Those scars make you who you are Harry, and I like you how you are now" Tonks spoke "Now tell me about the worst date you've had"

"It was with Cho Chang, going to Hogsmeade on Valentine's Day, going to Madam Puddifoot's and very awkward conversations"

"Mine was with Nick, when he asked me to change into someone else he had a crush on for a long time, before we kissed"

"I would like to punch that bastard if I get the chance" Harry growled.

Tonks placed her hands on his shoulders and asked him to relax. When his shoulders started to go down she kissed him "Thank you for being so protective"

Harry smiled "How many relationships have you had? I only had one, with Cho, if you can call that a relationship"

"I've had three boyfriends, two in Hogwarts, one after Hogwarts" Tonks told him while she looked at his reaction. When she saw that he was a bit relieved she asked "How long were you together with Cho?"

"We kissed in the middle of December, wrote a bit and talked some and then went on that date Hogsmeade, which also was the last date" Harry recounted "So you could say two months"

"My longest relationship was six weeks" Tonks told him.

"Alright, what is the furthest you've gone in a relationship?" Harry asked a bit insecure.

"No further than we already went" Tonks put him at ease, before she took another shot at the bowling pins.

"I guess you could say the same for me" Harry told her.

Tonks smiled "Maybe we should stop asking questions about previous relationships, not that there is that much more to ask actually"

"You're right" Harry agreed and kissed her again.

"Now, what are you expectations in a relationship?"

"I'm not sure, I think I find the most important thing that you listen to each other, don't force the other to do things they don't want, but also help each other out of your comfort zone, that you challenge each other. And that you are there for the other unconditionally"

"I hope I will be able to give you that" Tonks said "I want someone who accepts me for who I am, and not for who I can become. To be loved. That I can come home and find support when I'm feeling down, but I think I've got the right person for that"

Harry's eyes sparkled when she told that "What are three things you hate?"

"First, one that you know of, people addressing me with my name. People seeing me as good entertainment and dark chocolate" Tonks said with a wink.

"I hate people fawning over me because of my scar, I hate Voldemort hunting me and I hate dark chocolate too, so you're lucky"

"On a happier note, what are three things you love?" Tonks questioned.

"Strawberry ice-cream, waking up next to you and playing quidditch, but if you manage to knock down all of the pins with your next throw I'll tell you another thing" Harry told her teasingly.

"Okay, I love waking up next to you too, I love pistache ice-cream, sorry and I love walking in a park" Tonks said before she threw her bowling ball.

Much to both of their surprise, all of the pins fell down, so Harry, men of his word went to Tonks and whispered in her ear "The fourth thing I love is you"

Tonks looked at him with big eyes and asked "Are you serious?"

Harry just nodded, before he gently went with his hands through her hair and kissed her softly, when they broke the kiss Tonks told him "I love you too"

This time it was Harry who looked shocked at Tonks and a tear rolled over his face.

"Hey, what's wrong?" Tonks asked concerned.

"This is the first time someone told me they love me" Harry said and he looked away from her.

Tonks just turned his head with her hand so she looked right in his eyes "Then I'll have to say it a lot so you get used to it. I love you" and she kissed him.

"How long have you've know?" Harry asked.

"The moment at Gringotts when you told me you trusted me more than anybody else"

"I only realized this morning, when I woke up and I could see clearly without my glasses and then saw the empty vials on your bed stand indicating you made sure I took them, since I don't even remember taken the last two"

Tonks threw the last ball of their game, so before they asked even more questions, they went to change their shoes and pay for dinner and the game of bowling.

"Come on, there's a nice park here in the neighborhood" Harry said when they had left the establishment.

Tonks happy to follow him asked the next question "How would a perfect date look like for you?"

"Tonight seemed pretty perfect for me, eating something, doing something fun afterwards and taking a walk"

"I agree, so you can already start thinking about the next dates" and she winked towards him.

Harry looked nervous for the next question and his voice trembled a bit when he asked "How soon would you like to finalize our bond?"

Tonks stopped walking for a moment, surprised about the question.

"Sorry, it's something I've been wondering about since you told me about it" Harry explained.

"It's alright, I was just a little bit startled. First of all I wouldn't want to proceed if you didn't feel ready. I feel comfortable enough with you and I know you wouldn't hurt me, so if the situation was right, I wouldn't mind proceeding" Tonks struggled through her explanation with a red head.

"Thank you for telling me, I notice that talking about it makes you as uncomfortable as me" Harry told her "As for me, I'm mostly concerned that I would do something wrong. I never had a father figure long enough so he could inform me about those things"

"I never thought about that" Tonks told him. "Look if it would make you feel better, they always have books about this, most of the time to help the parents give the talk, but I believe it could help you too. If you wish, I could always go and buy such a book"

Harry, relieved that she didn't take the mickey out of him, nodded "Thank you"

They had arrived in the park when Tonks asked him the next question "What do you find attractive about me?"

"Your personality. You managed to make me smile after Sirius' death, I think that is the prettiest thing about you, your optimism." Harry answered and added as an afterthought "You look amazing too of course"

"I think you're willingness to do everything you can to help another as a very attractive part of you and the fact that you are able to continue your life after what you've been through. Oh and there is something about your eyes, they always give me the feeling I can look into your soul"

Harry smiled before pulling Tonks closer to him. They walked through the park, hands on each other's waist.

"You still have two questions left" Tonks told him.

"I know, alright what are three things that turn you off in men" Harry asked.

"Obviously when I'm asked to change my appearance, bad hygiene and when I'm not listened too" Tonks answered. "You?"

"When a girl dresses so that you can see all her assets, I think that is distasteful. Secondly, I can follow you on the bad hygiene and thirdly a clingy person"

"Alright, if those where the turn offs, then what are three turn ons?" she asked with a smirk.

Harry blushed. "Oh you're loving this aren't you, well to answer your question. You going through my hair with you hand, you coming out of the bathroom with only a towel and when you wink at me"

"Those are only things that resolve around me" Tonks remarked.

"Well you are the only person who's had that effect on me" Harry honestly answered, even though his blush had increased even more.

"Oh" Tonks was at loss for words for a moment "To answer my own question, when I'm kissed just behind my ear, which you accidently did this morning. A person who is confident, but not overconfident and your body does the trick too" and she threw in a wink for good measures.

"You are trying to kill me, aren't you?" Harry said.

"No, but it is funny sometimes to see you blush, it's cute" Tonks said.

Harry childishly put out his tongue to her, which made Tonks laugh. "I hope you had a nice evening"

"It was the best date I've ever had and I couldn't think of better company" Tonks earnestly said.

"Me too" Harry agreed "I'm also glad for the questions we asked, I've found out more about you, which I really like, it only makes me love you even more"

Tonks looked him in the eyes and replied "It's the same with me, the more I get to know about you, the more I fall in love with you. It even scares me because all of this is happening so fast"

"You are right that it is all happening fast, but I'm really convinced that we are really good for each other and that I really want you with me for the rest of my life. That is also why this is my last question" Harry told her.

He got out he box where the engagement rings were in and went to sit on one knee before he opened it "Do you want to marry me?"

Tonks looked at him speechless, she hadn't expected that Harry would do something like that for her. "Yes" she managed to say when she saw that he was getting nervous because of the silence.

Harry got up and carefully put the ring over her finger and after that Tonks repeated the motion with him before she pulled him towards her and kissed him longer, harder and more passionate than before.

"Thank you" Tonks told him.

"What for" he said a bit confused.

"For not seeing this bond as self-evident. It means a lot to me that you didn't just assumed we would be married because of the bond, but that you asked me"

"It just seemed like the right thing to do" Harry told her.

"That is why I love you, the fact that you think about such things" and kissed him again before hugging him.

After that, they just walked around a bit more in the park in silence. When it was getting dark, they started their walk back to the hotel and once there, they went back to their room.

They took their turns in going to the bathroom and when they were lying in bed, Harry holding her against him with his arm Tonks said "Thank you for this evening"

"You're welcome. Sweet dreams" he told her and kissed her cheek.

"Sleep well. I love you" Tonks answered.

"I love you too"

It was with these words running through their head that they both fell asleep, a smile on their face.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

The next morning, they awoke, still with a smile on their face.

"Was you asking me to marry you a dream or did it really happen" Tonks asked him after she had turned to face him.

"Take a look at your left hand" Harry told her.

Doing so, Tonks smile amplified "I'm glad it wasn't just a dream"

"Me too" and he gave her a morning kiss.

"Come on, we should start the day" Tonks said before she got out of bed and went to grab some running clothes.

While Tonks was in the bathroom, Harry already changed and only slipped into the bathroom quickly before they could leave. Walking hand in hand out of the hotel, Tonks kept playing with her engagement ring.

They started their run and quickly found their way back to the Thames. They both enjoyed the physical activity and fresh air. They tried to push themselves again, until they both couldn't run anymore and then started to walk back to the hotel.

"So what are we going to do today" Harry asked after catching his breath.

"Well first breakfast obviously, but then I will leave for a moment, but I shouldn't be gone longer than an hour, in that time you can read some more in your book about occlumency, since I want to start today with building your shields. So today will be mostly reading and practicing Occlumency, if that is alright with you?"

"Yes, but I might mix up the reading if Occlumency is starting to annoy me"

"Of course, I also have some lecture I want to go through, so I'll know how to keep busy" Tonks said.

In the hotel, they quickly both took a shower before going downstairs for breakfast. Running definitely gave them a big appetite.

"I was wondering if we should start planning our leave from England" Harry asked her after scooping up their plates at the buffet.

"I was thinking the same thing. We still have a lot of things to decide and to plan before we can do so. I thought that we should leave the moment you have enough control over your morphing or when it is mid-August, whatever comes first"

"That's fine by me, I think when we leave, we should do in a neutral appearance, which isn't dark blue hair" Harry said.

"Exactly, I can put glamors on you, but they don't hold that long, so we're going to see what happens"

"When are we going to start with practicing my morphing?" Harry asked eagerly.

"A basis of Occlumency could help you, that's why we should start with that, but the moment you have read you book about Occlumency, you can already start with the book I got about morphing" Tonks explained.

"Only gives me even more motivation to learn Occlumency" Harry said with a smile.

They finished breakfast before they went back to their rooms. There Tonks grabbed her backpack and gave Harry a kiss "I should be back in an hour"

"Alright" Harry answered before giving her another kiss.

When Tonks had left the room, he grabbed the book on Occlumency and continued reading. It surprised him how much faster he could read and how much he remembered about it, now that the block had been removed.

He only had to read three more chapters when Tonks came in the room again. Harry was so engrossed in reading that he didn't notice her doing so. It was only when she placed a kiss on his crown that he looked up.

"Hey, you're back" he said with a smile.

Tonks nodded "It seems like you have proceeded a lot in your book"

"Yeah, since that block is lifted, reading goes a lot faster and retention is a lot better" Harry answered. "Do you mind if I finished the book first, before we start practicing?"

"No, I'll just take a book for myself, let me know when you are done" Tonks assured him, so Harry continued reading.

Half an hour later, Harry was done reading, so he looked at Tonks who was sitting in the armchair next to him. Lying his hand on hers, he let her know he was done.

Tonks marked her book before she set it aside. "Alright, first of all, I've put a new book at your collection, one that you had inquired about. That being said let's start. What did the book told you about Occlumency?"

"A few things" Harry joked before he became serious "It described that an organized mind makes it easier to protect, so I've started to organize my thoughts a bit, but I'm not done with that yet. It also describes how you can build protections, magical and physical"

"Alright, that's a good start, if you are alright with it, I'll perform Legilimency on you and you have to tell me when you notice the intrusion. This is easier when you don't have memories with powerful emotions attached to it on your mind" Tonks told him.

Harry nodded "I'm ready"

The first time Tonks performed it, Harry hadn't noticed her intrusion until she started to try and search for a specific memory.

"It's not bad for a first time" Tonks encouraged him "Most people don't even notice an intrusion when they are shifting through their memories. Try to understand how you mind feels, that way you will pick up faster when there is something that doesn't belong there, which in this case would be my presence"

The next time Tonks intruded his mind, he again only noticed it when she started going through his memories, but the third time, he noticed a small change when she entered him mind and said so out loud.

"That's really good. The way Snape learned you was a forceful intrusion, while most attacks are very gentle, so they don't alarm the person they try to read. So it's really good that you managed to feel my presence"

"I really believe Snape only made me more vulnerable for Voldemort's intrusions" Harry mused.

"I think you are right, but we are changing that now, alright, now we will practice a few times more, so you become proficient in detecting an attack" Tonks said.

Harry braced himself and they started again. They practiced multiple times until Harry was able to detect Tonks' intrusions practically every time.

"I suggest we take a break, since we should get some lunch" Tonks told him "but I'm really proud on what you've accomplished. Normally it takes a lot longer to learn to detect intrusions"

Harry smiled and even more when Tonks kissed him.

"Come on, let's go downstairs" she said and pulled him out of the armchair.

While they were walking downstairs, Tonks said "From now on, I'll start to try and invade you mind in moments you don't expect, so you aren't prepared. That way you'll learn to detect them even when you aren't prepared. That will be the next step to learn to protect your mind"

"Thank you for helping me" Harry said genuinely after nodding.

"It's in both of our advantage if we are both good Occlumens, that way it will be easier to protect the fact that we are leaving England"

Harry smiled when they went to sit down with their food in front of them. He was taking a bite when he felt the gentle intrusion from Tonks.

"Nice try" Harry told her.

Tonks looked at him surprised "That was really good, I hadn't expected you to notice this intrusion"

"Now that I understand how my mind feels, it's not that hard to detect your intrusions" Harry admitted.

"We should be able to start on your defenses this afternoon since you are able to detect the intrusions"

Encouraged by this, Harry quickly ate his food and impatiently waited until Tonks was ready.

"Nice to see you this enthusiastic about this" Tonks remarked.

"I'm just glad that I'm able to do it, I'm also determined because I feel an obligation towards Sirius to be able to protect my mind"

"Well, let's continue the lesson then" Tonks said when she put down her cutlery.

After making their way upstairs again and taking place in their armchairs, Tonks said "Now it is important that you chose a way of cataloguing you memories and thoughts, after that we can start on putting up defenses"

"When I was reading the book, I was thinking about a city, where every building represents a category of memories" Harry told her.

"That's a good idea. If it is alright, I'll give you some time so you can place those memories in their respective place in your mind" Tonks said before she gave him a kiss and picked up her book again.

Harry closed his eyes and started with organizing his mind, first deciding how he wanted to divide his memories over the specific buildings. He placed his knowledge and his studying in a building that was a library, while his dueling experience ended up in a dueling room in another room. He placed all his memories in their buildings, often placing a memory in multiple places. When he thought he was done, he opened his eyes and saw that it was completely dark outside.

He looked to where Tonks sat and saw that she had fallen asleep in the armchair and a quick look on the clock, which told him it was past midnight, explained a lot. He took her book out of her hands and noticed that she already was in her pajamas. He carefully scooped her up and placed her in the bed. When he wanted to go to the bathroom to change, he saw that there was a plate with food waiting for him.

Feeling his stomach growl, he decided to eat first and then go to sleep. Taking his first bite, he was surprised that it was still warm until he deduced that Tonks must have used a warming spell. Quietly eating the plate of pasta, he watched how Tonks was sleeping. After the plate was emptied, he took his pajamas and went to change in the bathroom, also brushing his teeth.

When he was finally prepared to go to sleep, he went to lay down, organized his last memories and went to sleep.

The next morning, it was Tonks who woke up first and was a bit disorientated that she was in bed. When she noticed Harry's arm holding her, she realized that he must have carried her to the bed when he came out of his trance organizing his mind. She hadn't want to disturb him the evening before since he looked very focused and she knew out of experience that it was easy to get lost in sorting your memories and forget about what happened around you.

She decided to close her eyes a bit more and snoozed a bit in the arms of Harry. It was an hour later that Tonks noticed that Harry started moving a bit, so she stroked over his arm that was holding her.

"Awake" Harry asked.

"Yes, I have been for a while, but I didn't want to wake you since I didn't knew what time you went to sleep.

"It was 2:30am" Harry said. "I don't understand how it could have gone from 1 in the afternoon to 2:30am"

"I did the same thing when I was organizing my mind. I had started one evening after a day of auror training and when I was done, it was four in the morning and I had to get up two hour later" Tonks chuckled. "Were you able to organize all of you memories?"

"Yes, I believe so"

"Good, now we should go for a run, then get some breakfast and then we can see to make some defenses" Tonks told him.

After breakfast, they took their places again in the armchairs and Tonks described "Now we will start with making your defenses of your city. We should start making some physical ones, since those should be easier to build"

"Alright, I thought I would build some walls around the city"

"That's a good start, why don't you do so, then I'll try to break through the walls" Tonks told him and gave him some time.

A few minutes later Harry told her he was ready for her intrusion, so this time Tonks entered his mind a bit more forcefully and started to observe the wall. It only took her a few moment before she had broken through the wall by slipping through a crack

"You noticed what I did?" Tonks asked when she had left his mind again.

Harry nodded, a bit out of breath from the intrusion. "Give me a minute, I'll try to improve my walls"

Harry thought of a first wall, made of stones, with a thick plate of steel behind it that covered the entire wall, only to be sandwiched between another stone wall behind it.

"I'm ready" Harry told her when he was done.

Tonks entered his mind again and tried to break through his wall, except this time, she didn't find a way to go through the wall, so she simply tried to get over the wall by conjuring a ladder and climbing over it.

After that she left his mind again and was also a bit out of breath, just as Harry. When she had caught her breath she explained "It was a really good wall this time and you noticed that it took me a lot more strength to get to your city"

Harry thought for a moment and asked "What would happen if you placed booby traps or mines in your mind?"

"If you can let them detonate like real ones, a person should normally be evicted from your mind, except if the person is a very accomplished Occlumens, and even then they can only endure with a few of those attacks"

Harry nodded and started to enforce his city even more. This time he placed a deep ditch in front and after his wall and started to place multiple mines and traps. In his wall, he placed traps at places that looked weak, so if you would try to get in from there, it would trigger when they tried. He finished with placing some mines before the ditch, dispersed over the land in front of it.

He smirked when he was ready and asked "Care to try now?"

"I'll probably regret this, but sure" Tonks said before she entered his mind, since she was warned about the mines, she crossed the land a lot more careful than the first times and by using a detector spell, managed to pass the land until she was in front of the ditch. Thinking for a while, she used a lot of energy conjuring a stairs that went over the ditch so she could climb it to the top of the wall. She was really tired by the time she got there and was surprised to see another ditch after the wall. Eventually, she placed a cushioning charm on the land after the ditch and with a jump and a little wind spell to give her more momentum, she managed to jump off the wall, over the ditch and on the cushioned patch of ground.

Once she was there, she left his mind again and was extremely exhausted. "I almost didn't made it, that was really hard to break through and I was one of the best Legilimens of my class"

Harry smiled and suggested "We should take a break, I think the both of us could use some rest"

"Good idea, do you want me to explain the process of putting magical protection on your mind?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, why not" Harry said, but he first got up and pulled Tonks out of her armchair only to sit down again and pulling her in his lap.

"This is quite comfortable" Tonks remarked with a smile and gave him a kiss. "Now about magical protection. You should use spells that stay there permanently, so you can use wards for example. You try to cast it over what you want to protect. Since you already managed to make a strong physical protection, this will be easier, since your mind now knows how to hold this up"

Harry nodded and started to work on it. This was a lot harder to apply correctly and it took Harry a lot more time to do so. That afternoon and the next six days, Harry read books mostly about wards , and sometimes in the book that Tonks had gotten him, and started to apply them on his defenses. When he had applied another one, Tonks would test it and try to break through his defenses, but they had come through a point where he needed to give Tonks access to certain parts to she could test his newest defenses, because she couldn't break through all of them anymore.

They had also worked a little bit on Harry's morphing skills when he got tired of working on his Occlumency and they had achieved that he could let his hair grow and shorten again and he had also been able to change his hair color a couple of times.

On the seventh day they had decided that they couldn't improve his defenses anymore with all the traps, misdirections, spells and physical barriers Harry had put in his mind. Tonks had even improved her own defenses with the ideas Harry had given her and in return had told him about her defenses. So Tonks had announced that they would go out the next day, but that she would take care of everything.


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

The next morning, Tonks was awake, bright and early, and exited for the day without being cooped up in their room working on Harry's Occlumency or his morphing abilities.

After ten minutes trying to lay still, she turned so she faces Harry and she kissed him. After a few moments, he started to respond and his lips moved with hers. Harry even went a bit further and went with his tongue over Tonks' lip.

Startled for a moment, Tonks broke the kiss and she saw Harry looking insecurely at her. It didn't take her that long before she kissed him again, this time she repeated the action and Harry opened his mouth a bit and met her tongue with his. They played and teased each other a bit with their tongue until they both were out of breath and stopped the kiss, just looking at each other. Harry had trouble keeping his head clear and used his Occlumency skills to make sure that Tonks wouldn't notice what effect she had.

"That was amazing" Harry described.

Tonks just nodded and nestled her head on his shoulder. After a few minutes she said "A nice way to start today"

They both reveled a few minutes longer in each other's embrace before Harry suggested for them to get up. Reluctantly, Tonks agreed and went to put on her sportswear, since they would start their day again with going for a run. They had noticed that the running started to go better and better, the more they went to run. Their morning run had started at forty minutes and now they were able to run an hour before they returned to the hotel.

Harry started with a shower, since it had started to become a habit and left the bathroom again only covered in a towel. While he waited for Tonks, he read some more in the book she had bought him and he had almost finished it. It explained to him the aspects of a physical relationship, how to start this, how to be considerate of your partner and how to protect yourself while doing so. He was really grateful that Tonks had gotten it for him and didn't say a thing when he was reading it. It had helped him overcome some of his insecureness about their bond. That was also the reason he had dared to take another step in their relationship that morning. He just wanted to start on the last chapter when Tonks came out of the bathroom.

"Ready for today?" she asked him.

"Yes, care to tell me what we are going to do?"

"Not really, you'll have to wait and see, but I've packed everything we need for the day" Tonks assured him.

Tonks opened the door to leave the room, so Harry just grabbed his wand and followed Tonks. Instead of going to the breakfast buffet, they left the hotel and Tonks led him to a little breakfast club where they enjoyed some typical English breakfast.

"That was a nice change" Harry said when they had left the establishment.

Tonks smiled and grabbed his hand "Now we are going to go someplace to get something you inquired about. Just make sure you don't say too much, alright?"

Harry nodded in understanding, so Tonks pulled him in a little dark alleyway and before he knew it, she had apparated them away.

When they stopped, they were someplace in the countryside and they walked a while until they came up with a little cottage. They entered the premises and knocked on the door. It was opened by a witch that was probably around fifty years.

"Nice to see you again" the woman said "Please come in"

"Thank you" Tonks said and entered the house, followed by Harry. "We are here because we are in need of your expertise"

The woman arched an eyebrow but nodded "Please follow me" and she led them to another room.

"This room is warded against everything, even the ministry can't detect anything in here, now I assume you are in need for a wand?"

"Yes, we both want a new wand, one that is better attuned to us" Tonks said.

The woman nodded "With whom do you want me to start?"

"Why don't you start with my friend" Tonks suggested.

"Alright dear, I need you to clear your mind and think about your magic and what here in the room attracts you" the woman explained.

Harry nodded and closed his eyes, he did what she had told him and his Occlumency made it easier for him.

"Now if you feel the things in this room that speak to you, slowly move towards them and hold your hand above it"

Harry did what was told and started to move around the room, holding his hands towards the things that spoke to him like the lady had told him. When he was done, he had walked towards six items and he opened his eyes.

"Alright, I have laid out the materials you went to, except one, since you will have to get that particular material yourself" the woman said with a smile.

Harry looked at her strangely until Tonks said "Once of the things you walked to and pointed to was my hair, so I'll have to lengthen my hair, so you can take a hair out for your new wand"

When she saw the insecurity Tonks assured him "I wasn't surprised, so don't worry"

Harry nodded and Tonks made her hair grow, so Harry could carefully pull a hair out and he laid it on the bench.

Tonks immediately changed her hair to her preferred style again before she took Harry's hand and rubbed it.

"Alright Tonks, it's your turn" the woman told her.

Tonks did the same thing Harry had done and as he had, one of the materials was a hair from Harry. Harry had to focus a lot harder on making his hair grow, but managed to do so that Tonks could take a hair that was long enough. It was easier for him to change his hair back like it was and once he had done so, the woman spoke "I'll need an hour I think to make these wands, you can take a seat over there while you wait"

Both Harry and Tonks nodded and did as she had told them. Harry and Tonks just sat close to each other, both working on storing some memories and checking their mental defenses.

The hour passed quite fast for them and before they knew it, the woman came back with the two wands and came to them. She placed them on the table in front of them before she took a seat herself.

The woman directed herself to Harry and said "Your new wand is made out of cedar wood, which is typically for an owner who has a strong character and is very loyal. The core is made out the hair of your mate, a thunderbird tail feather and horned serpent horn. It also contains a phoenix feather, while the second feather I had from that phoenix now resides in Tonks' wand. This should make it a very interesting wand since I would have never thought for those cores to go together and it should make very powerful wand. In the bottom of the wand, like you can see here in the handle, is a shungite, this is a very rare stone that should help you with healing magic"

"Thank you for making this wand" Harry said.

The woman just nodded and laid the wand in Harry's hand. The feeling he felt was ten times more intense than with his original wand and he focused his magic on his wand for some reason. He was surprised to see symbols appearing on his wand. When he looked up at the woman, shock was written on her face.

"I have never experienced this with a wand, then again, I have never made a wand with six materials" the woman said.

"Could I have a look" Tonks asked.

Harry nodded and laid his new wand in her hand. Tonks was surprised that she felt the wand responding to her too and inspected the symbols, which she quickly recognized as runes in the wood.

"They are the runes for strength, love and persuasion" Tonks told him.

Harry just nodded again, not really knowing what to say.

After a moment of silence the woman spoke again "It is possible that your bond is doing this. Now for yout wand Tonks, it has apple wood, which makes it a very strong wand, typically for those who fight in the light. The cores are a hair of your mate, the phoenix feather, a firebird tail feather and white river monster spine, this is again a very unusual combination that I hadn't expected to be stable. You also have a shungite in your wand. If you would pick it up, I'm curious to the reaction"

Tonks smiled and picked up her wand, she felt a warm feeling flooding over her and her magic went to her wand. She was still a bit surprised to see the same runes as on Harry's wand appear on hers.

"Well, I must say this was a very interesting morning" the woman said.

Tonks nodded before she asked "We would also like to buy four wrist wand holders, with all the possibilities"

"Of course, am I correct to suspect what will happen when you leave here?"

"I'm afraid so" Tonks responded.

"I understand, I will give you some materials, which will make it impossible for me to suspect what wands and how many wands I made" the woman told her.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it"

The woman gave them the four wand holsters and also some raw materials before she said "That will be 2100 galleons"

Tonks wasn't surprised by the high amount and got the money out of her wallet, but this time not in the form of a note, but as real galleons. Both she and Harry then put on their wand holsters and put their wands in them. The moment they had done so, they disappeared from sight.

The woman just put them on a scale that informed her that the amount seemed correct. She then went to take a seat in the sofa and told Tonks "You can proceed"

Tonks nodded before she stunned her and then obliviated her. Then both she and Harry let themselves out of the house. They walked the same road they had taken before and then Tonks apparated them away.

"Can you explain to me what happened?" Harry asked when they were walking in London again.

"That woman was a family member of mine who is very gifted in making specialized wands and as you might have noticed, sensing magic since she picked up on our bond. She was also disowned by the Black family and the auror department has used her skills sometimes in the past to make a fitting wand for some of the senior aurors. She is used to being obliviated, since the wands she makes are often better not to be disclosed to others and that keeps her and the owners of the wands safer" Tonks explained. "Of course it costs a bit more when you chose to do so"

"Thank you for taking me there" Harry told her.

"No problem, we both could use a new wand so it seemed" Tonks said "Now, it seems like it is time to get some early lunch"

She took Harry's hand and pulled him through the streets of London and stopped when they were in front of a nice little restaurant.

They both ordered their food and two glasses of wine. They talked a bit about their last two weeks and when the food had arrived Harry asked "The next bit of training after today will be about the morphing I right?"

"Yes, I'm certain that you have the same abilities as I have, so I want to teach you how to change your hair, eyes, facial structures and body composition. I would deem you ready to leave England, if you are able to hold a morph with changed hair, eyes and some facial structures for twelve hours in a row, preferable sixteen to twenty" Tonks explained.

"Luckily I really like practicing my morphing" Harry told her "It's a lot more fun than Occlumency"

"I can't disagree with you" Tonks agreed.

They enjoyed the rest of their lunch and when they were ready, they left to take the underground. Tonks led them to another part of London and it dawned on Harry what they would do when they stood in front of a swimming paradise.

"I thought we should have some fun" Tonks said when she saw his face.

"I think I'm going to like this" Harry told her with a sparkle in his eyes.

They entered the building and payed for their tickets. After that they went to the changing rooms, where Tonks gave Harry his swimming trunk before disappearing in her own cubicle. Harry was faster done changing and waited for Tonks until she was ready. When she was, she exited her changing room and Harry needed all his learned Occlumency not to show everybody how much he like the view he had of Tonks in her bikini.

"I'm really glad I know Occlumency now" Harry murmured, but Tonks had still heard and smiled at the comment.

The afternoon was spent enjoying each other's company, going in the slides, having a good time in the rapids and lagoon pool and when they were tired, they went to relax a bit in the spa. By the time Harry and Tonks went back to the hotel, they were famished and exhausted.

While they were on the underground Harry told Tonks "I really enjoyed our day, thank you"

"You're welcome, I thought you would like it to let your inner child come out for once. And I don't mind doing so either. I don't always get that chance"

"So any plans for this evening?" Harry asked.

"I had planned on going to a musical or film, but I think I would just fall asleep" Tonks admitted.

"We can always order room service and watch a movie in our room" Harry suggested.

"I'd like that" and she laid her head on his shoulder.

Harry wrapped his arm around her protectively and made sure they got out at the right stop. They walked back from the station to the hotel hand in hand and ordered room service immediately after arriving in their room.

That evening, they just relaxed in their bed, eating room service and eventually falling asleep on each other's shoulder.


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

The next morning, Harry and Tonks awoke at approximately the same moment and enjoyed a good morning snog before they started with their morning ritual of going on a run and then eating breakfast downstairs at the hotel.

After breakfast they headed back up to their room and placed themselves in the all too familiar armchairs. Tonks handed him a little mirror before they started.

"We're going to start with repeating what you can already do, alright?" Tonks asked.

Harry nodded and concentrated on lengthening his hair until it was shoulder length. After waiting for a minute, he concentrated again on shortening his hair again until it was only a few millimeters long.

"That was a very good beginning, now try to change your hair color" Tonks instructed.

Harry did as she asked of him and first matched his hair to her lime green and holding it like that, before he changed it to fire red, then going to yellow, brown, light grey to end with purple. Each time he did a change, he held it for a moment before he went to another one.

"Alright, now you should try to change your hair color and lengthen or shorten your hair" Tonks told him.

"Okay, I'll try, should I do them separately or try them at once?"

"You should start with doing them separately, you can later work on doing them at the same time"

Harry listened to Tonks and started with shortening his hair and after that he had to concentrate very hard to change the color to dark brown.

"Good, now try to hold it as long as you can" Tonks said.

Harry was able to hold his hair like that for almost thirty minutes before it changed back to his longer dark blue hair.

"Right, now I'm going to order room service and while we are eating, you will hold a change to your hair, but better only one change" she told him.

Harry smiled and answered "A nice burger and fries would be nice"

After Tonks had placed the order she said "You are doing really well. I wished I had such a rapid progress when I was younger"

Harry pulled her in his lap. "Like you said, you were younger, so you didn't have such a good control over you magic. I also have the advantage that I know Occlumency, which you were right about, really helps with learning the changes and holding the changes. But most of all, you didn't have such a good instructor as I have" and he kissed her passionately.

"You are right" Tonks had to agree "I'm really glad that you are learning so fast, I hope we'll be able to leave London soon. I have the feeling something bad is going to happen"

"I know, I also have that feeling, which isn't strange since Voldemort can go in the open again"

They talked a bit more about the movements they had been able to deduce from Voldemort from reading the Daily Prophet every day. It was the only job that Hedwig had, since Harry's friends hadn't written him once in the entire two weeks that had passed.

When the food arrived, they took place at the table and before they started eating Harry changed his hair so it was sandy brown. In the beginning he had trouble combining eating and holding his morph and he had sometimes change his hair back to the sandy brown again, but near the end of the meal it started to go a bit better.

"That was really difficult" Harry told Tonks when they had finished and were in their armchairs again.

"I know, in the beginning I tried this as a little kid I was able to take one bite before my hair changed back again. I needed two months until I accomplished what you did in one meal"

Harry smiled before Tonks instructed him again to change his hair color and length and to hold it as long as he could again. That time, Harry was able to hold it for an hour and a half and he only changed it back since he started to get bored.

"Alright, now I want you to hold morph of two parts and read one of your new books. Try to hold it as long as possible and still process the information you read" Tonks assigned him.

Harry did as he was told and he started reading a book about dueling techniques while his hair was orange and shoulder length. He was able to do so for twenty minutes before Tonks noticed that his hair went back to his shorter dark blue.

Tonks alerted Harry to this and Harry changed back to the longer orange hair. Over the course of the afternoon, Tonks had to point this out two times more and after that Harry noticed it himself. The time before he changed back also started to lengthen and when it was dinner time, Harry had read his book and could hold the two part morph for forty minutes before he changed back.

Calling it a night, they went to get some dinner and then did their evening run.

The following two weeks passed in similar notion, only Tonks added changes in hair style, thickness of hair, color of eyes, shape of his nose, shape of his mouth, color of his lips and shape of his ears. They also started to change more and more things at the same time and holding this morphs longer and longer. At the ending of those two weeks, Harry could hold a multi parted morph for three to four hours while performing another activity

Deciding that a field trip was in order, Harry and Tonks left the hotel that morning, to go for a long walk. When they had left the hotel after breakfast, they went in the first dark alleyway they got too and Harry changed his appearance and so did Tonks. Once they were done, they both had dark brown eyes, dark brown hair and had changes some of their features to resemble the other's. Anybody that would really look at them would think they were siblings.

They walked around through London hand in hand, doing some window-shopping when Harry felt his body tense like he was in danger.

"We should get out of here" Harry told her in an urgent voice.

Tonks had felt it too, but in a lesser degree. Harry's voice however made her see the gravity, so they ran to the nearest deserted street where Tonks apparated them away.

When they arrived at their destination, Harry had the urge to leave again, but Tonks held his hand firmly and said "Fight the sensation that you should leave, it's normal"

She pulled him with her towards a nice house that showed up after walking for two minutes. Before she knocked on the door she explained "This is where I grew up, my parents live here and I did so too until I started traveling after Sirius' death. My parents know part of what we are doing and have performed an oath not to reveal anything to anyone"

Then she knocked the door and it was opened by a woman that resembled Bellatrix Lestrange a bit. Harry even pulled his wand out until Tonks laid a hand on his shoulder which relaxed him.

"Nymphadora, what are you doing here?" her mother asked her.

"We needed to go somewhere safe fast and this was the first place I thought off" Tonks explained.

Her mother nodded before she looked at Harry. She took her wand which made Harry tense again.

"Relax, she's going to key you to the wards, so that sensation of wanting to leave will disappear" Tonks informed him.

Harry nodded, so Tonks' mother proceeded. The moment she was done, Harry was more at ease and was able to relax a bit.

"Please come in" Tonks' mother told them.

Once inside and in the sofa Harry said "I'm sorry for my reaction Mrs. Tonks, you reminded me of your sister I'm afraid"

"I understand, you aren't the only one young man" Tonks' mother told him. "Would you two like some tea?"

"That would be nice mom, thanks" Tonks answered.

While Tonks' mother was in the kitchen Tonks first said "I'm surprised you were able to hold your morph through all of that stress"

Harry smiled and went with his hand through his shorter hair.

"Now, I think we should stay here for the day, until we have some more information if something happened. And I think we should tell my mother, and probably my father this evening, about you and about us. They are both skilled Occlumens"

Harry looked her deep in the eyes before he responded "That's fine by me and since they have performed an oath, I know I can trust them. Of course, the fact that they are your parents and that you trust them helps too."

When Tonks' mother returned with the tea and some cookies, Tonks said "You're probably wondering what has happened in the last weeks and why I'm here now?"

"Yes, but I didn't ask since I didn't know if you wanted to tell me" her mother answered.

"Since we both know that you will protect our secrets, we don't mind telling you some things. I should first start with the introductions. Mom, this is Harry Potter, Harry, this is my mother Andromeda Tonks"

Andromeda was shocked so she didn't immediately responded to Harry when he held out his hand and politely said "Nice to meet you ma'am"

She was pulled out of her stupor when Tonks gave her a little nudge "I'm sorry, I was just surprised and confused. It's nice to meet you Harry" and she shook his hand.

"You probably know me better like this" and Harry went to his natural form.

This shocked Andromeda again for a few seconds before she nodded. "You're also a metamorphmagus?"

"Yes ma'am, but I only figured out this summer and Tonks is helping me to control my morphing"

"It seems like you're making really good progress and please call me Andromeda" she told him.

Harry smiled and first went back to his dark blue hair and bright blue eyes that he preferred "I have a good teacher"

"Yes well, mom do you remember when you read the book I got from the ministry?" Tonks questioned.

"I believe I remember most of it yes" Andromeda answered and the wheels already started turning in her head.

Tonks took a deep breath before she said "The part where they talked about the bonds appears to be true, even though you were skeptic about them"

Andromeda looked at her daughter and then at Harry, who looked a bit uncomfortable. She took a while to process what her daughter had just told her. Her face went from questioning, to shock, to amazement. "Are you happy" was the first thing she asked Tonks.

"I've never been happier before" Tonks earnestly answered.

Andromeda nodded "This is a lot to take in"

"I know mum, we've had a bit more than four weeks to adjust to this, but I still remember the initial shock" Tonks said.

It was then that Andromeda's look rested on their hands. "I see you are wearing an engagement ring?" She asked a bit uncertain.

This time it was Harry who answered "You are correct. I didn't want to assume because of this bond that Tonks wanted to marry me and I also didn't want her to miss out on the experience of being asked"

Andromeda smiled and addressed her daughter "I can see why you are happy" before she turned to Harry again "I'm really glad to hear that you aren't taking this and Nymphadora for granted. It assures me that she is in good hands"

"I will definitely do my best to treat her like she deserves" he said with a smile.

Tonks grabbed Harry's handed and gently rubbed it. "You are probably wondering what we are doing her?"

"You could say that" Andromeda agreed.

Tonks explained in short what Dumbledore had done, neglected and hidden and also informed her mother of their plans to leave the country, so Harry would be away from Dumbledore's grip. When she was done explaining Andromeda was shocked by what she had found out and was proud of her daughter that she wanted to help Harry, even before the bond started to form.

"As for what we are doing here at this moment" Harry picked in "We were testing my ability to hold a morph and were walking through London when I got the feeling that something wasn't right. I informed Tonks about this and we sought a point where we could safely apparate as fast as we could"

"It was good thinking. I'm glad you came here" Andromeda told them.

"Would it be alright if we stayed a while, maybe even overnight until we are certain it is safe to return to where we've been staying" Tonks asked.

"Of course, your father will be glad to see you, we've both missed you and he'll be happy to hear about the last two months" Andromeda assured them. "Now I should get started for lunch"

"Could you use some help?" Harry asked.

"If you don't mind working muggle way, we prefer to do it that way since our appliances are from the muggle world and sometimes react funny if we use to much household spells"

"No of course not" Harry said.

"Why don't you take on your previous morph while you're helping my mom, I'll prepare my bedroom at the time" Tonks suggested.

Harry nodded and started to change his appearance back to the brown hair with brown eyes and then turned to Andromeda.

"Follow me" she told him and led him to the kitchen while Tonks went upstairs. "You can start with cutting those vegetables in little pieces"

"Alright" Harry said and he took a cutting board and a knife and started with his task. At the same time, Andromeda was preparing the lamb while looking at the skill that Harry showed while preparing the onion, carrots and celery.

When Harry was done cutting the vegetables he asked "Is there anything else I can do?"

"Do you know how to separate the pulp from tomatoes?" she asked him.

"Yes, shouldn't be a problem. Are you by chance making Shepherd's pie?"

"I am" Andromeda answered, a bit surprised that he deducted that already.

Harry smiled and started taking out a pan and after filling it with water put it on the stove for the water to cook. After that he took the tomatoes and started carving them at the bottom. Once the water cooked, he placed them in the water for a few seconds until he saw the peel coming lose and then got them out of the water again. He then carefully peeled the tomatoes, before quartering them, removing the pits and cutting them in even blocks.

"You've been in a kitchen before" Andromeda remarked.

"I have, I started cooking for my relatives when I was five years old. When I was seven, I prepared all of their meals" Harry told her.

Andromeda merely nodded, not knowing what to respond to that before she asked "Could you prepare the potatoes too? Then I can start cooking the vegetables and meat"

"Of course" and Harry already started to take everything he needed to peel the potatoes and cut them.

When he was finished, Andromeda was still at the stove stirring in the pot, so Harry put the potatoes on the fire and then started to collect the kitchen gear they used so he could do the dishes.

Andromeda only noticed what he was doing when he was already with his hands in the water. "You didn't need to do that"

"I know, but I don't mind doing so" he answered with a smile.

Harry was drying the last cutting board when Andromeda was putting the two layers in a baking dish before placing it in the oven.

"Thank you very much for your help. It was nice not to cook on my own for the change" Andromeda told him.

"It was my pleasure"

"If you want to see what's keeping Nymphadora, her room is the first on the right when you are upstairs" Andromeda informed him.

"Thank you" Harry replied and left the kitchen to take the stairs. Once upstairs, he turned to the door on the right and knocked on the door.

When Tonks opened she asked "Is everything alright?"

"Yes, but we've finished preparations and the dish is in the oven so your mother send me here" Harry explained.

"Well, come in. This is my room, I was cleaning it a bit since there was quite some dust and was just finishing to change the sheets" Tonks told him.

"I like your room" Harry said after looking around for a bit.

"Thank you, now could you help me with these sheets, I'm not that good at this" Tonks asked.

Harry smiled and instead of helping Tonks, he just took over and finished changing the sheets himself. "Lots of practice" he informed her when he saw her looking at him.

"Thank you for helping, I couldn't have been here for another ten minutes and I still wouldn't have been able to do it right"

"You're welcome, but you can always thank me with a kiss" he teased.

Tonks not minding at all to do so, pulled him closer and started the kiss softly only to deepen it until the kiss became quite passionate.

When they parted again out of breath Harry said "That would count as a thank you, now we should probably head downstairs"

"Probably, come on" and she grabbed his hand and pulled him after her.

When they entered the kitchen Andromeda looked at them with a bemused smile. She had never seen her daughter interact with someone like she did with Harry and she found it really fascinating and nice to watch.

"How much time do we have left before lunch" she asked her mother.

"Still about thirty minutes" Andromeda informed them.

"Do you mind if we train his morphing a bit while we wait"

"No of course not" and Andromeda followed them to the living room.

Before Tonks started she asked "Did he kept up his morph the entire time?"

"Yes, he actually did. I already forgot, sorry"

"Alright, perfect" Tonks said before she started going through different changes in his appearance.

Tonks instructed, Harry followed the instructions and Andromeda just observed.

"You're getting a lot better at this" Tonks told him when they had gone through most of the morphs and gave his a short kiss, only then realizing again that her mother was in the same room.

"I won't tell you off for kissing your fiancé" Andromeda informed her daughter with a chuckle. "You're old enough not to need that anymore"

Harry blushed because of the encounter and Andromeda and Tonks chuckled because of his discomfort. Luckily, Harry was then saves from more scrutiny when a bell in the kitchen went.

"Alright, take a seat at the table" Andromeda told them.

Both Harry and Tonks did what she said and when Andromeda was in the kitchen, Tonks said "What morph are you going to take for lunch?"

"How about this?" Harry asked before changing his hair so it stood upright and was blond, while his eyes took on a blue/grey color, his nose also changed and so did his ears.

"Perfect" Tonks complemented him "but boring"

"You're right, is this better?" and he changed his hair to purple.

"Much better" and she leaned in for another kiss.

When the kiss had ended Harry said "I'll try to keep this morph up as long as possible after lunch"

"Good idea, let's time it"

That moment, Andromeda came back with the Shepherd's pie and started piling the food on their plates. Both Harry as Tonks loved the home cooked meal, since it was a world of difference than hotel and restaurant food they had been eating for the past month.

After lunch they helped clearing the table and then Harry and Tonks took a book and started reading. Harry was reading a book on curses that Tonks had from auror training, while Tonks was reading a book on healing.

Harry was engrossed on his book when Tonks noticed her mother looking at them, so she looked up. Her mother made a sign so she would follow her to the kitchen. Tonks laid down her book and did so. Harry did notice, but he just gave her a smile and continued reading.

Once she was in the kitchen, Tonks saw that her mother had already put a pot of tea ready.

"You can ask away, I'll answer what I can" Tonks told her mother.

Andromeda nodded "It seems like you've found yourself a good one this time?"

Tonks couldn't help but smile and agreed with a nod "Not only because he's a metamorphmagus like me and because of the bond, but he also respects me and values me and not what I can become"

"He's got a lot of past with him and you're six years older, doesn't that scare you?"

Tonks thought for a moment how she would reply "Harry has even a harder past that you expect mom, but I also know of his entire past and saw it all with my own eyes. I find it horrible what he has gone through, but it made him the person he is"

Andromeda smiled "And as for the age?"

Tonks chuckled "He's mentally older than he is and I'm younger than I am, so that isn't a problem. On the part of experience in a relationship we each have probably as much experience as the other."

Andromeda nodded "I had noticed as well, about the mental age, I mean. You are really prepared to leave the country with him? Leave your life here behind you?"

"I am mum. The rumors that are printed in the prophet are true, there was a prophecy that says that Harry needs to kill Voldemort, or he's going to be killed by him, but nobody thought about giving him training. I'm not going to let him confront Voldemort without the skills to defeat him"

This shocked Andromeda, since she hadn't suspected this "And of course Dumbledore knew about this, had Harry in his school for five years, but didn't prepare him"

"You are correct. He informed Harry mere hours after the death of Sirius… I hope you now understand why we have to leave?"

"I do, but I hope you understand that training him will be difficult, since he can't perform magic for the next year"

"That will probably not be the case" Tonks said and she started to blush "Once we are intimate, we are legally married since our bond will be completed then. That will make Harry emancipated and able to perform magic"

"Of course, I hadn't thought about that. Do you think you are close to that point?"

"I think so yes, we lived together for the past month and we have grown comfortable around each other. Our relationship has also evolved since the beginning and I think we are both ready for it" Tonks explained.

Andromeda nodded and smiled "I'm glad to hear that you are considerate of the other about this. I'm not going to ask any more embarrassing questions. Now tell me, how did he propose?"

So Tonks started to tell her mother about how their time together had gone and only stopped when Harry stood in the doorway with his wand in his hand.

"Someone is approaching the house I think" he said.

Andromeda looked on the clock and said "Don't worry dear, that should be my husband Ted"

Harry relaxed and put his wand back in its holster "Sorry"

Tonks walked to him and softly rubbed his back, which helped him calm down before the front door opened and Ted Tonks entered.

Ted appeared in the kitchen and asked "Who do we have here?"

Tonks made her hair shift to her typical bubblegum pink for a moment before she hugged her father.

"Sorry Dora, I hadn't expected you to be here"

"No problem dad, I would like you to meet Harry Potter, Harry, this is my father Ted" Tonks said.

"Nice to meet you sir" Harry said politely while he shook the man's hand.

"Nice to meet you too" Ted answered, but it was clear that he had a lot of questions.

"Why don't I inform you father of everything dear, you two can go and relax some" Andromeda suggested.

"Thanks mom" Tonks said and she didn't need to be told twice to disappear from the kitchen, pulling Harry behind her.

They went to sit in the sofa together, Tonks laying her head on Harry's shoulder and closed her eyes a bit. Harry absentmindedly went through Tonks' hair, while he started to relax again by the comfort of her body against his.

"How did you know that someone was approaching the house?" Tonks asked.

Harry thought for a moment "I'm not sure, it was as if I felt magic that I didn't recognize, coming closer"

"That could come in handy if you have this too in a battle, we should look into it after we have settled down" and she let out a yawn.

Harry just nodded and also closed his eyes. The relaxing feeling they got from each other made them fall asleep on the couch.

When Andromeda was finished explaining everything to her husband, they went to the living room, only to see Harry and Tonks asleep, Harry with his arm protectively over Tonks and Tonks laying on his shoulder and holding his waist.

"She looks happy" Ted noticed.

"I've never seen her more happy and I'm certain of it that he will not hurt her"

Ted smiled "She deserves it, after her previous relationships, I didn't think she would find someone who liked her for who she is, not like those jerks she was with"

"I know and the fact that he's also a metamorphmagus will help with this too" said Andromeda

"I just wished they didn't had to leave, it would be nice to see her happy"

"That might be true, but you should also understand why they are doing this"

"I do, it's just hard to let her go" Ted answered. "I've always been there for her, we have always been there for her, but I have the feeling someone else took that place now"

"And that is a good thing Ted, come on, let them sleep some while we prepare dinner" Andromeda suggested.

When it was dinner time, Andromeda softly went to the living room and woke up her daughter "It's time for dinner Dora"

"What, oh, I'm sorry we fell asleep"

"No problem, why don't you wake Harry and then come to the kitchen" suggested Andromeda.

Tonks nodded and when Andromeda had turned around towards the kitchen, Tonks softly started to place kisses on his cheek and neck. When Harry opened his eyes, he captured her lips with his and they enjoyed a slow kiss.

Harry sighted as the kiss ended "Give me a minute to calm down before we join your parents"

Tonks chuckled and cuddled him while Harry used his Occlumency to keep his body in control. When Harry was ready, he kissed her forehead and got up out of the sofa.

They entered the kitchen hand in hand and Tonks said "Sorry we fell asleep"

"No problem Dora" her father assured her. "Now let's sit down so we can eat"

While eating dinner Harry asked "Has there been any new today?"

"No not yet, but if there is an Evening Prophet, it should arrive around seven" Andromeda answered.

They ate while Ted told them about his day and Harry and Tonks told a bit about London. They were just done with dinner when an owl entered the kitchen and dropped a paper. Ted quickly payed for the paper and opened it.

"it seems that there was an attack by death eaters on a muggleborn that lived in London. Apparently he had stopped a death eater attack a few weeks prior and Voldemort hadn't liked that really" Ted told them after reading the front page.

Tonks nodded "We will stay here this evening, so we don't accidently run into auror"

Her mother smiled and ushered them out of the kitchen and back into the living room.

"Would someone like to have a glass of wine?" Ted asked.

"That would be nice sir" Harry answered, while Tonks also answered affirmative.

"You don't have to call me sir, it makes me feel older than I actually am" Ted chuckled before he went to get a bottle of wine and four glasses.

They settled themselves in the sofas and both Harry and Tonks continued reading in their books. Harry even had to borough a book from Tonks since he had gone through the two books he had in his backpack.

Before they went to bed that evening Andromeda said "I'm not sure if you are doing it consciously, but good job on holding your morph"

Harry looked at her surprised. "I take it you didn't do it consciously, which is even better" Andromeda said.

"No I actually forgot about it" Harry admitted.

"That's good process" Tonks said excitedly "You've been holding your morph for nine hours without doing this consciously"

Harry smiled and thought about the difference he felt about the morph "It's a little bit like my shields, like I used to have trouble applying spells but eventually found how to hold them without paying attention to it. It feels the same"

"I believe Nymphadora is a bit jealous, she needed more than three years to figure this out" Ted laughed.

"Just a little bit" Tonks admitted. "But I'm glad he's progressing this fast"

"Well, we should go to sleep, or I definitely should, since I have to get up to go to work tomorrow" Ted told them.

"I think we will go to sleep too, it's been a tiring day" Harry admitted.

They all said their good nights and Harry and Tonks made their way to Tonks' childhood room. Tonks just transfigured their clothes into pajamas and they both got under the sheets.

The next morning, Harry and Tonks woke up again bright and early and the first thing that Tonks noticed was that Harry was still in his previous morph.

"If you want you can change back to your blue hair" Tonks remarked.

"Wow, I'm still in my morph" Harry said "I guess I really found the trick to do this"

"Yes, it seems so" Tonks said with a smile and laughed when Harry shook his head and went back to his preferred form.

"You think that was funny, don't you?" Harry asked and started to tickle her, which made Tonks laugh even more and she tried to tickle back, which only worked after a couple of minutes, but she didn't continue tickling him but kissed him instead.

After a while they stopped "We should get ready and go downstairs" Tonks reluctantly said.

Harry nodded and got out of bed, Tonks performed a quick Scourgify and refreshing spell on both of them after changing their pajamas again so they were presentable to go downstairs.

"Good morning" Andromeda and Ted greeted when they entered the kitchen.

"Good morning" they both replied.

They ate a quick breakfast, but before they could get up clean the table, Andromeda stopped them "I have something for you two. It's something I've worked on the last two months"

Andromeda then gave them a little wooden box "It's a communicating box. I used the principles of a vanishing cabinet and altered them. That box has a twin, that we have, so if you want to send us a letter, you just have to put it in the box, activate the spell and it will appear in our box"

Tonks teared up a bit and hugged her mother "Thank you, that's great"

The goodbye after breakfast was with a few tears from Tonks and promises from Harry that he would take good care of her, before Tonks apparated them to a neighborhood alley in London from where they took the underground towards the hotel.


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

The day after they had returned from Tonks' childhood home, it was Harry's sixteenth birthday. Tonks had planned the entire day out, since she wanted Harry to be able to have an amazing birthday, since he didn't have many in the past.

She awoke first and noticed that a few owls had gathered in their room. First stroking Hedwig who nibbled her hand affectionately, she started to release the owls of their parcels, knowing that Harry would reply with Hedwig rather than sending a reply with those owls. As last she released Hedwig from the parcel she was carrying.

Once she was done doing that she first got a shower and changed into clothes before she got back into bed and kissed Harry softly on the lips. It took a while before Harry started to respond to her kisses, but once he did, she gave him one last passionate kiss before she said "Happy Birthday"

"Already the best birthday ever" Harry sleepily said with a grin.

"Good to hear, I'm hoping that the day will get even better"

"If I spend it with you, it definitely will" and he gave her another kiss.

Tonks suggested "Why don't you get up and get a shower?"

Harry nodded and picked out his clothes, before he went to the bathroom. He took a long hot shower before he got out, brushed his teeth and put on his clothes. He looked in the mirror and saw his reflection. His dark blue hair and bright blue eyes looking at him. He concentrated for a moment and went back to his natural form, so that his black hair and green eyes looked at him. Harry sighted for a moment and went back to his preferred form.

"A new person, a shot on the future" he said to himself.

He then left the bathroom and saw that Tonks was waiting for him in an armchair.

"I thought you might wanted to open you presents first, before we head out?"

Harry nodded and went to sit down "Could you perform the detection charms?"

"I already did, they are all secure" Tonks reassured him. "Moody would be proud of you"

"Alright, let's start with Hermione's present" Harry said with a chuckle, when he took a present that looked like a book. When he looked at the name tag, he was correct to guess it was from Hermione and grinned. He opened it and it showed two books, the first 'Updated Counter-Curse Handbook' and the second one 'Self-Defensive Spellwork'. "Typical something for Hermione to give me books"

"There was also a letter with it" Tonks said and she handed it to him.

Harry took it and read the letter before he said "Apparently Dumbledore asked them not to write so much for security reasons and of course she asked me how I was doing and warned me I couldn't dwell on Sirius' death"

"That girl is a brilliant witch, but sometimes she really lacks social skills" Tonks answered.

"You get used to it, the books are useful though" Harry said with a small smile and picked up the next package.

He opened it and it showed a selection of Honeydukes' sweets, he looked on the tag and wasn't surprised that it came from Ron. The next present was from the twins and was an assortment from their shop, Hagrid had given him a book 'You and Your Owl' which should have interesting facts about living with an owl and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley had sent him a cake and some homemade fudge.

"The only surprising present is that of Hagrid" Harry said with a smile. "I'll quickly write thank you notes and assurances that I'm doing better and then we can leave"

"No problem" and she handed him some parchment and a quill and ink.

Harry quickly wrote thank you notes to everybody, with a little bit of information that he could honestly give, like that his summer wasn't that bad, that he had been working on processing Sirius' death and such.

He needed twenty minutes to finish his letters before he beckoned Hedwig towards him "These are letters for Ron, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, the twins, Hermione and Hagrid, I think you will be able to drop most of these off at the Burrow"

Hedwig hooted, nibbled his finger once before she headed out of the room.

"Ready to go?" Tonks asked.

"I think so, where are we going?"

"We will start to get some breakfast, but not here in the hotel" Tonks told him while they left the hotel room.

Tonks took him with her on the underground until they arrived at the right station. There she led him through some streets, until they arrived at an indoor market hall that was bustling with activity. They walked around a bit, looking around at the multiple different stands, until they arrived at a little breakfast corner. They both took a seat and ordered their breakfast.

"Is there something you wanted to do today?" Tonks asked "I can always change some things in the schedule"

"Not really, I'm already glad to spend some time with you, relaxing" Harry told her earnestly.

Tonks smiled and took his hand "Happy to comply with that"

"So what have you planned for today" Harry asked.

Tonks thought for a moment "I can only tell you we will do some sightseeing and you will get my present in the late afternoon"

"You didn't have to do all this for me" Harry told her.

"I wanted to do this, you deserve to have a nice birthday, everybody does" Tonks said "Now, we should go since we have to be somewhere at ten a clock"

Harry shoved the last of his breakfast in his mouth so they were ready to leave, which made Tonks laugh at his antics "I've never seen someone who can eat faster than that, and I've seen Ron eating"

"I learned to do so at the Dursleys, that way they couldn't take away the little they did gave me" Harry shrugged.

They started walking away from the market and Tonks wrapped her arm around his waist which prompted Harry to lay his arm over her shoulders.

"I could walk an entire day like this and it would already be a perfect day" Harry told her.

"Couldn't you have told me before, then I didn't have to plan this day" Tonks teased.

Harry followed Tonks through London until they stopped at a place next to the Thames. "I hope you don't get seasick?"

"Are we going to sail on the Thames" Harry asked excited.

"Yes, we're even going to eat while we are on the boat. I've never been in a boat myself and I gathered nether did you, so it seemed like a good idea"

Harry pulled her towards where the boat was anchored "It is a really good idea"

They managed to get on the boat on time and took a place on deck, enjoying one of the rare sunny days in London. Looking around at the Big Ben, House of Parliaments and the many more identifying marks of London. It was a blissful morning and when it was noon, they were asked to go inside again so lunch could be served.

Some of the other people that were eating lunch on the boat were looking at them a bit weirdly, but Harry and Tonks couldn't blame them, since most of the people on the boat were above thirty years old and looked rather boring.

When lunch was over, the boat moored again and the trip on the Thames was over.

"Alright, now the second part of sightseeing, we're going to visit the Tower. Every guide of London says that that is one of the must see things, so it would have been a shame that we were in London, but never did so" Tonks explained to Harry while they were walking to the Tower.

"Am I correct that a part of magical history also took place here?" Harry asked, vaguely remembering something from Binns' classes.

Tonks glowed "You are correct, during one of the goblin wars, the Tower was the most important gathering place for wizards. They only won that war because the Tower was nearly impermeable"

"I wonder if there are still signs from that war in the Tower"

"Even better, there is a special exhibition that centers about it, but only magical people can enter it. It's like platform 9 3/4 "

Harry chuckled "It amazes me that you are so into History"

Tonks blushed a bit, but started to tell Harry everything she remembered about the war around the Tower. It made the visit even more interesting and Harry found himself hanging to every word Tonks said.

At a pause in her explanation Harry said "It's a shame that Binns doesn't give his classes like this, they would be much more interesting"

"I'll take that as a complement. Now if I'm correct, then we should be able to enter through that wall there in that corner"

They walked as subtle as they could towards the place where the barrier was and entered the magical exhibition without anyone noticing it. It showed everything that Tonks had told him, there were even corpses of dead goblins displayed in their battle armor.

After roaming through the tower for three hours, Tonks and Harry left it and Tonks led him to the underground again. While they were waiting, Tonks pulled him in an alcove and said "Take on a more neutral disguise that is far from your natural form but is also punky"

Tonks did the same and changed her hair to jet black with red strikes in it, while Harry made his hair shorter, dark brown and made it look even wilder than it usually was. He also changed his nose and ears a bit until he was certain that he wasn't recognizable.

"Perfect" Tonks said and they boarded the next underground.

"You're going to get part one of you birthday present. We are going to Diagon Alley and we're going to do some bookstores. We probably won't return to Diagon Alley after today, so chose all the books you want"

Harry grinned. It was quite unlike the Harry from a few months before where Hermione needed to nag a large amount so he would read his textbooks, but since the lift of his blocks, Harry actually enjoyed reading.

"Could we go to the twins' shop? I'd like to see it before we leave England"

Tonks smiled while they walked through the Leakey Cauldron "It was on my to do list of today, but first we must make a stop with the goblins"

Harry shrugged his shoulders and they made their way towards Gringotts. When they entered, they were immediately whisked away by a goblin that took them to a private room.

"What can I help you with today Mr. Potter and Ms. Tonks" the goblin who sat at a desk asked.

"We were hoping you could check if we have any spells on us. We are planning on leaving England soon and we wouldn't want a tracking spell or so on us" Tonks explained.

"Very well" the goblin said and he snapped with his hand. A few minutes of silence later, a goblin that Harry recognized, Diamoron, came in.

"Diamoron, I'm pleased to see you again" Harry greeted her.

"Mr. Potter, it is an honor that you still remember my name, what can I do for you?" she asked.

"Could you check us for any spells that might still be on us?" Harry asked.

"Of course" Diamoron said and she started to walk around Harry and Tonks while saying words in Gobbledegook.

When she was ready she spoke "You Mr. Potter had several tracking spells on you as well as others, I removed them all, even those of the ministry. Ms. Tonks, you only had one simple tracking spell on you which I also removed"

"Thank you very much for all your help" Harry said to Diamoron and the other goblin.

Both goblins nodded and Harry and Tonks took this as their cue to leave again, knowing that goblins didn't really liked being kept. They followed the goblin that had brought them there back to the entrance hall and left Gringotts.

Harry and Tonks visited three bookshops and even though that Flourish and Blotts was the biggest, it was in a little bookstore that specialized in books about dueling and fighting that Harry chose the most books.

Books packed in their backpack, Tonks took his hand and walked them in Horizont Alley before they entered a little obscure looking building.

Before the shop keeper could say something Tonks turned to Harry and said "During our first date you told me you wanted a tattoo to remember you godfather with, that is my second birthday present for you"

Tears appeared in Harry's eyes before he kissed her and quietly thanked her.

They heard the shop keeper cough to attract their attention so Tonks said "Sorry for that, I hadn't explained yet why we were here"

A young woman that was covered with tattoos replied "No problem, my name is Marcia and I assume you're here for a tattoo for you boyfriend?"

"We actually both want one, but you can start with him"

"Alright, do you have a picture of what you want. If not, no problem, if you describe it, I should probably be able to draw it"

Tonks rummaged in her backpack before she took out a sketchbook which she gave to Harry "I took the liberty to try some designs of what you described to me"

Harry looked at the pictures that Tonks had drawn and was surprised by how good they looked. They varied from simply the stars of Canis Major, to variations where the dog was drawn around it. He was flipping through it when his eye fell on one drawing. It showed the stars that and it looked like they were sparkling. Around the starts was drawn a dog just like Sirius' animagus form, with his tongue out of his mouth.

"This one, definitely" Harry said.

Marcia took the drawing from Harry and looked at it. "It's a really good drawing" she complimented "This shouldn't be a problem to do. Where do you want it"

"Over my heart" was the short response from Harry.

"Alright" she took them to the back chamber where there was a table in the middle. "Hop op" she told him.

Harry pulled off his t-shirt and went to lay down on the table.

"This is a magical tattoo, that means that it gives it more dimension and when a tattoo is meaningful and well executed, they are able to move a little like this one" Marcia told Harry while she showed a waterfall on her shoulder, where the water seemed to fall down"

Harry just nodded so Marcia continued "This will hurt but try not to move to much or I'll have to put you in a body bind and the result will not be the same"

After that Marcia started with the tattoo and for the following fifty minutes, the only thing that was audible was the sound of the tattoo machine. When she was done, she applied some balm on it before she said "All done. I must say you surprised me, most people don't stay so cool under this"

"I've had much worse pain" was the simple answer Harry gave.

Marcia nodded and pointed Harry towards the mirror. Harry walked towards it and observed the result. The tattoo was a perfect copy of Tonks' drawing and you could see Sirius' personality in the tattoo. The star Sirius from the Canis Major sparkled in the constellation, while Harry could see how the tail of the dog wagged.

He quietly whispered "You're forever with me Padfood" before he thanked Marcia "Thank you, it's perfect"

"It was my pleasure, it seems like the tattoo is very special to you and I'm honored to have been able to apply it" Marcia told him and then turned toward Tonks "You ready for your tattoo?"

Tonks nodded and gave her a piece of paper that said 'Tibi ipsi fidelis esto'. "This on my ribs" Tonks explained.

"Alright, do you have a preference of letter type?"

"Something fluent, for the rest I leave up to you interpretation" Tonks told her.

Tonks nodded and pulled of her t-shirt, which made Harry blush, and went to lay on the table.

"This should really hurt, the ribs is one of the most painful places to get a tattoo" Marcia explained.

"Go ahead" Tonks said, but motioned for Harry to come closer.

Harry gave her his hand and held it while Marcia placed the tattoo. Tonks just focused on what she felt from Harry's touch instead of the needle that went through her skin. It only took Marci twenty minutes to place the tattoo and also applied the balm when she was finished.

"That wasn't so bad" Tonks remarked when she was looking at the result in the mirror "It exactly what imagined, so thank you"

"It was actually nice to tattoo you two, most people have to be put in a body bind. Now is there anything else I could do for you, or do you wish to pay?"

"Just a second" Tonks said and she pulled Harry in a corner before applying a silencing spell so Marcia couldn't hear what they were telling.

"Do you want another tattoo?" Harry asked.

Tonks bit her lip, doubting herself for a moment before she explained "There is a special kind of tattoo, one that couples place together. It's called a pignus tattoo, because it creates a visible bond between to people. I know we already have our bond, but I was wondering if you wanted to get one"

"What did you have in mind?" Harry questioned.

Tonks opened her sketchbook to one of the last pages. It only took Harry one look on the page before he said "Let's do it" before he kissed her passionately.

Tonks cancelled the spell and turned to Maria "Sorry for that, but we actually would like to have another tattoo, but this time a pignus tattoo"

"Are you sure" Marcia enquired.

"Absolutely" both Harry and Tonks answered.

"Alright, if you are sure, what would you like?"

Tonks gave her the sketch and Marcia's eyes almost bulged out of her eyes. Eventually she said "I'll do it, but I should have dinner first, since this is going to take a while"

"We should probably get something to eat too, care to join?" Harry asked.

"I would like that, thank you" Marcia accepted. "There's a nice little place here around the corner"

They left the little building and followed Marcia. Throughout dinner, Marcia talked about their store and Harry and Tonks talked in vague terms about how they met and such. Harry insisted that he would pay for dinner, before they headed back to the tattoo shop.

Once they were in the back room again Marcia enlarged the table and instructed "I need you both to go and lay down on the table, make sure that your back is free and hold hands. After that you just have to endure the pain which I can promise you is even worse than with a normal tattoo"

Harry went to lay down first, which allowed him to keep his head cool while Tonks went to lay next to him without a shirt and then got out of her bra. They locked hands and turned their heads so they were looking in the other's eyes.

Marcia then started with the preparations and drew runes on their back that marked the outer lines of the tattoo. Then she started to perform some spells until a palpable projected back appeared in front of her. She started the tattoo on this back and while she did so, the lines appeared on both Harry and Tonks' back at the same time. Harry and Tonks did notice that it hurt a lot more than the previous tattoo, but they kept looking in each other's eyes, drawing strength out of it, stopping each other from flinching in pain.

It took Marcia a little more than four hours to apply the tattoo they had asked, but when she was done, she was actually surprised herself about the result. She started to perform some more spells and when she was done, she looked down on the backs of Harry and Tonks and saw a beautiful multicolored phoenix that arose on both of their backs. The tail feathers moved when she looked at it and it was like there was a real fire where the phoenix came out of. She was momentary mesmerized with the result before she started to carefully apply the balm that helped it heal instantly and took away the pain.

After that she said "All done"

Tonks first immerged from the table and covered her front with her t-shirt before Harry got up from the table too. With the help from two mirrors, they looked at the result, being speechless for a while when they first saw it.

Harry and Tonks thanked her, but Marcia said "I should actually thank you two for allowing me to tattoo such piece of art on you"

"How much do we owe you?" Tonks asked.

Marcia made a quick calculation before she spoke "In total it's 760 galleons"

Tonks payed her, before they thanked her again and left the little building. They made their way back to the hotel talking about the experience.

When they were finally back in their hotel room, Harry started to kiss Tonks passionately the moment the door was closed. His lips trailed from her lips, to her neck and when they got to a point where fabric covered Tonks' chest, Tonks just went to the buttons and slowly started to open them, eventually revealing the same image that Harry had seen in the tattoo shop. A blush appeared back on Harry's face, but he went back to softly kissing Tonks on her lips.

Tonks shortly disrupted their kissing so she could lead them to the bed and so they could go and lay on it. She then took the lead and she took the hem of his t-shirt before pulling it over his head. She softly placed a kiss on his new tattoo before she kissed him back on the mouth again. She could feel Harry's excitement pressed against her leg.

Their hands roamed a bit over the other's body, discovering, while they kept making out until they fell asleep like that, their almost bare chests against each other.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

The next morning Harry woke with Tonks in his arms. The feeling of her bare back and the thought about the night before made his body respond instantly. He decided to get out of bed and start the day with a shower, a cold shower to be specific.

When Harry had cooled down again, he went to place a kiss on Tonks' mouth to wake her up, so they could go on their daily run.

While Tonks prepared herself, Harry started to put away the books they had bought the day before and was just finished when Tonks came out of the bathroom.

After their run, they went to change and got breakfast before they headed back to their room. Taking place in the armchairs, Tonks got out a muggle notebook and a pen and Harry dug out multiple brochures.

"So the first thing we should decide is when we are planning to leave" Tonks said.

Harry thought for a minute "I would say in two days, tops four, depending on the availability of the tickets"

"Alright, so hopefully the third, at last the fifth. Where do we go too? I want to go someplace warm, preferably in a city"

Harry took out a map of the United States and spread it out on the table in front of them. "According to the brochures, these regions are quite warm, but I would prefer to go someplace at the east or west coast"

"Alright, so that narrows it down" and then started to mark three cities on the map "Those three cities have the equivalent of Diagon alley"

"So we have Miami, Los Angeles and San Francisco left" Harry summed up.

"I would say Miami falls off since the weather is still better in the west coast" Tonks said.

"Alright, then we only have to choose between two cities, let's take Los Angeles" Harry suggested.

"Fine by me, it's not that it really matters that much where we are living" Tonks told him.

After that, they started making lists of what they had to do before they left and after lunch they started with their plan.

Both Harry and Tonks took on a morph that they would use to leave the country, which was of a middle aged couple. They went to a photographer to take pictures before they headed back to the hotel. There, Tonks started with making fake passports which should hold up when they went through customs.

Settling on the surname Shaw and the names Rose and Julian, Tonks filled in all the blanks, making them a married couple that lived in Maidstone.

When their passports were done, Harry and Tonks left the hotel, changed their appearance and when to look for a travel agency. Asking around a few times, they finally found an agency and entered. It took the incompetent person behind the desk there a long while before they were able to book a direct flight to Los Angeles on the third in the early evening. Making sure they had all the papers to take the plane, the left the agency again to go back to the hotel.

By the time they were back in the hotel, it was dinner time so after a quick bite, they gathered again in the hotel room that had been their home for the past month.

"We should start packing" Harry suggested.

"You're right, but make sure you leave out enough muggle clothes. We still have to get suitcases, since it wouldn't do well to go on a supposed holiday to America without any luggage" Tonks reminded him.

Harry started to carefully unload his old trunk that he used at Hogwarts, making sure there was nothing left in it, before he sorted out his stuff. In the end, he mostly kept his textbooks and potion making material. He also kept most of the sentimental stuff that reminded him of his friends, his parents or Sirius. All the rest was put on the vanishing pile.

Tonks was doing the same since she had hastily packed all of her stuff from her parents' house the first time she was preparing to leave. She had added a few things, mostly clothes on the vanishing pile before she started to pack her stuff in her new trunk.

After packing for three hours, they cleared the bed and decided to call it a night.

The day after that, they went to buy some muggle suitcases so they could pack the rest of their stuff. Since they had still more than a day left before they had to leave, Harry and Tonks decided to roam through London a bit more before they went back to the hotel that evening to pack the rest of their stuff.

That evening, they spent relaxing after their evening run and watching a movie together before heading to sleep. The next morning was a bit more hectic since they first went on their last run in London and then packed the rest of their stuff.

They took a quick lunch in the hotel, before they went to check out of the hotel. Both packed with a large suitcase and their backpack, they took the underground to Heathrow Airport.

"Nervous?" Tonks asked.

"Yes, I just can't help but to expect everything to go wrong" Harry admitted.

Tonks took his hand "Everything will be alright, we've done everything we could so they can't find us and who would expect that I would take such a disguise? Plus they don't even know that you're a metamorphmagus and they'll suspect that you would have traveled by magic"

Harry chuckled "That's true and the fact that wizards forget that muggle transportation exists and is very efficient"

"There you got it, everything will be alright"

They took the underground until they were at the right terminal and got out there. They started to make their way towards luggage check in only to go through the security check. Both Harry and Tonks were curious if their passport would hold up, but they got through it without any problems. Magic could come in handy at such times. After scanning their handbags, which luckily showed like there was next to nothing in it, they went to search at what gate their flight would leave.

There, the waiting started until it was time for the flight to leave. They first stopped in the tax free shops to buy some drinks and snacks before they took a seat in an uncomfortable chair and waited for two hours before the boarding would begin.

"I wished we didn't had to be here this much in advance" Tonks said after the first hour of waiting.

"We're lucky that we can board first, otherwise it was another half an hour more" Harry pointed out "And the flight will be eleven hours"

"You are trying to get me depressed, aren't you" Tonks grumbled.

Harry laughed "Just think that we are going to be in the sun in hopefully a little over twelve hours"

Tonks laid her head on Harry's shoulder and closed her eyes "That is a better thought, definitely if we are going to the beach"

"I wouldn't mind if that was the first thing we did" Harry said "It would be a nice first time on the beach"

"That's true, but we will probably go to a hotel when we arrive, since it will be around nine in the evening" Tonks pointed out.

"I know, but I can dream can't I"

"You definitely can Harry" and she gave him a chaste kiss.

They waited the remaining time until the boarding for first class passengers began. Harry and Tonks went to stand in the little line that mostly existed out of business men from the looks of it.

"Luckily we put on our better muggle clothes" Tonks whispered to Harry.

Harry slipped his arm around Tonks' waist "It wouldn't be the first time if people stared at me"

Tonks wanted to reply but it was time to give her ticket to the air hostess. They were guided through a tube until they boarded the plane, where they were led to their places. They had two comfortable seats next to each other, with a little table at the sides. They could tilt the seats so they transformed into beds.

Settling in their seats, they took out a book from their backpacks that had a neutral cover and started reading before they were disturbed by an air hostess who came to ask if they wanted something to drink.

Tonks looked at Harry before she ordered two glasses of white wine.

"We might as well take advantage of these expensive tickets" Tonks said when the air hostess had left.

"That's true" Harry grinned.

When the air hostess came back with their wine Harry asked "Could you tell me when it is able to get a meal?"

"In business class, you can just order when you are hungry from the moment the plane takes off. It is in economy class that the meals are regulated" the hostess politely answered.

"Thank you for that information" Harry politely answered.

The hostess nodded and went to the next passenger.

"Already hungry?" Tonks teased.

"I am actually. It's already six hours since we've last eaten, so that shouldn't surprise you"

"No it doesn't" and Tonks focused her attention back to her book.

A few minutes before the plane would take off, they got an emergency explanation and then the plane started to make speed to get in the air. Tonks had grabbed Harry's hand, not really liking the feeling of being pushed in the seating by the force of take-off.

When they were finally in the air and leveled again, Harry started to rub Tonks' back so she would calm down again.

A while later she said "I really hated that"

"Come here" Harry said and he motioned her to sit on his lap.

Tonks' didn't needed to be told twice and happily complied. Harry continued rubbing her back, while Tonks went through his hair with her hand. They stayed like that for a long while, sometimes getting a weird look from an air hostess and they couldn't blame them. I must have been a weird sight to see two adults sitting like that, but they didn't care.

It was only when Harry's stomach began to grumble that Tonks reluctantly got off and they ordered some dinner. After eating they returned back to their books, they would try to stay awake the entire trip, since that should help them with their jet-lag according to the information in the brochure.

After a few hours they started to have trouble keeping their eyes open, so they asked for some coffee to help them stay awake. They barely were able to do so and they were so tired that they hardly noticed they were descending again until they touched the ground.

Groggily, they made their way out of the plane and the airport and went straight to the hotel that was next to the airport. After asking and paying for a room, they almost fell asleep with their clothes on, but Harry managed to coax Tonks to go and change so she would sleep comfortably.

 **AN : Sorry for the delay and short chapter, but my computer crashed, so I lost a lot of my progress on my stories...**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us.**

They had slept for almost twelve hours when Harry woke at nine in the morning. Disorientated, he looked around for a while before he remembered they were in Los Angeles now. Smiling, he started to kiss Tonks' neck until she started to react to him.

"Good morning" Tonks murmured.

"It is a good morning, what are we going to do today?"

Tonks turned and kissed him thoroughly before she answered "Although I would love to go to the beach with you like you suggested yesterday, we really should start to look for a house. I don't really fancy living another month in a hotel"

"Neither do I" Harry had to admit. "But we should get some breakfast first"

"I am going to get a shower first, I really could use one after that flight" Tonks said and she started to get up.

"Alright, I'm going to empty that suitcase in my trunk, I' don't really want to take it with me everywhere I go"

Tonks gave him a kiss before she left the bed and headed to the bathroom.

After both of them had showered, they went to breakfast and then checked out of the hotel. The left the hotel to be greeted by a warm morning sun.

"This is why I wanted to come here" Tonks said and she grabbed Harry's hand. They took a bus that brought them to the center of Los Angeles, where they changed appearances in a public restroom. They walked around in the city without purpose for a while until they bought a burger and went to eat it in a park.

"How do you want to live" Harry asked after a few bites.

"I'm not sure, it has to be someplace where we can have a training room and a library"

"A potions lab could come in handy too. Do we have a specific budget?"

Tonks thought for a moment "With the inheritance I got from Sirius, we should be able to get a nice enough house"

"If Sirius was here, he would tell us to go all out and buy a large house to show off" Harry chuckled.

"A large house needs a lot of maintenance" Tonks pointed out. "And I'm no hero in cleaning"

Harry was quiet for a while before he said "If I'm honest, I would like a large enough house so we feel free to do whatever we want to and we can afford it. As for the maintenance, I might have an idea"

"I wouldn't be one to say no against a nice house Harry, what is your idea?"

"Could you put up a notice me not spell and a muggle repelling spell?" Harry asked.

Tonks nodded and did so before Harry said "Dobby, I need your help"

It was a while, but eventually the elf showed up.

Dobby looked around disorientated before he said "Harry Potter asked for me, what can Dobby do to help you with?"

"Dobby, I was wondering if you would like to come and work for us?"

The elf started to jump up and down with the prospect of that before he stopped at once and said "Dobby is not sure if I'll be able to help you that much Harry Potter. Dobby's magic is declining"

"How comes your magic is declining Dobby" Harry asked concerned.

"An elf needs to be bonded with a wizard to have enough power to survive. When and elf loses his family, they have a few years to look for another family, but if they can't find one, they die"

"Why didn't you ever told me this?" Harry questioned.

The elf blushed "Dobby didn't want to concern the great Harry Potter, you have much more important things on your mind"

Harry looked at Tonks who understood what he wanted to do and nodded "Would you like to bond with me Dobby?"

Dobby's eyes widened "Would you want to do that?"

"I would be honored Dobby, but I have some conditions"

When Dobby nodded, Harry continued "I want to pay you, you aren't to punish yourself, you are able to wear anything you like and you get a free day every week"

"You are too generous" Dobby said.

Harry shook his head and asked "How do we perform this?"

"You just have to say your name and tell that you accept me as your house elf and Dobby will do the rest" Dobby explained.

Harry nodded and he spoke "I, Harry Potter, accept Dobby the elf as my house elf"

A little glow came from Dobby for a moment and not much after that Dobby said "That you very much master, what can I do for you?"

"For starters, nothing changed between us Dobby, so please call keep calling me Harry and you can call Tonks with that name too. Second of all, whatever happens, you aren't to tell anybody where Tonks and I are" Harry explained.

"Of course Harry, Dobby will do as he is told" the elf said excitedly.

"Dobby, we are going to look for houses today, so hopefully we'll have a place to live very soon, until then you can do what you want" Tonks spoke for the first time since Dobby had arrived.

"You are bonded with Harry Potter" the elf said "Dobby can feel it with his elf magic, you are my mistress"

Tonks smiled "That might be, but remember what Harry told you to address me with my name only"

"Dobby will do as asked" Dobby said before he disappeared.

Tonks looked at Harry for a few moments, who had been looking at her interaction with Dobby with a smile on his face, and said "That was one strange elf"

"That would be the understatement of the year, but I believe I have solved our maintenance problem?" Harry replied.

"You have, now tell me how your dream house looks like" Tonks enquired.

Harry thought a bit before he answered "Like you pointed out, we really need a training room and a library and a potions lab would come in handy too, so a house with enough bedrooms would be nice. Also if all of this mess is over, it would be nice if my friends could come here. I wouldn't say no against a pool in the garden. And in general an open and light house"

"I could live in such house" Tonks said "If we want to have enough money to furniture and decorate a house, plus live for maximal a year, we can afford a house of 6 million dollar I think"

Harry was shocked by the large amount for a moment before he realized that that was only the tip of the iceberg once he came into his inheritance. "Alright, let's go house hunting" Harry said brightly.

Tonks smiled at his enthusiasm and let her be pulled up by him. While they were walking Harry added "A house close to the beach would also be a plus"

"You're right and it's a good workout to run in the sand" Tonks added.

"That is why I was suggesting it" Harry said with such a big smile that told her otherwise.

"Of course" Tonks laughed.

They almost needed an hour before they finally found a real estate agency and when they entered they were immediately ushered to a junior assistant, probably since nobody expected a green haired and blue haired couple to spend a lot of money.

"Good afternoon, my name is Rick, what can I help you with" the young man asked them.

Tonks and Harry smiled, since they immediately got a good vibe from him, so Harry said "Good afternoon, we just arrived here in America and we are looking for a house to live"

"Alright, do you want to rent or buy?"

Tonks grinned and said "We want to buy a house"

Rick scrabbled something on a piece of paper and asked "What is your budget?"

"Four million pounds, which if I'm correct should be around 6 million dollars" Tonks brightly told him.

Rick looked at them, thinking for a moment that they were playing a prank with him until he saw the determination and sincerity in their eyes. Recovering, he questioned "Do you have access to that money, or will you have to take a loan?"

"We are able to pay immediately" Tonks said, before she got out her muggle credit card and gave it to him "You can check"

Rick took the card and he only needed one look at the card before he knew for sure they weren't joking and handed it back to Tonks. "I'm sorry for my reaction, but it isn't every day that someone walks in and can pay such an amounts up front"

"No problem, we understand. It would be a good joke" Harry admitted.

Rick nodded "Do you have some criteria?"

"Yes, we would like to have at least five bedrooms, a light and open house with some terrain around it. A pool would be nice and we don't say no against a property with a guest house. Close to the sea would be a nice extra" Harry summed up. "And we would want to move in as fast as possible"

"If you give me a few minutes then I'll make a few phone calls, we could possibly head out to go and look at some houses after that" Rick told them.

Both Harry and Tonks nodded and gave Rick the space to do the phone calls by going to sit on a sofa a bit further.

"This is quite exciting" Tonks said.

Harry smiled "I know what you mean, this will be our first house together"

They sat there, fantasizing about living together until Rick came to them and said "If you are ready, there are a few houses we can go and watch now"

Harry and Tonks jumped up and followed Rick out of the office. His colleagues were looking at them a bit strange, but ignored them for the rest.

"Am I right that you don't have a car yet?" Rick asked.

"You are, we don't even have our drivers license yet" Tonks replied.

"You might want to change that as fast as possible, the public transportation in Los Angeles sucks, sorry for my language, but of course, the traffic sucks too" Rick pointed out with a grin.

He led them to a simple black car and they got in. They drove for almost a half an hour before they stopped.

"I have found three houses so far, but I believe that this house will have your preference. The beach is a quarter of a mile away from here. The lot is a bit over an acre and has a house and guest house. I'll start with showing you the main house" Rick explained, before he retrieved the keys from a woman that was waiting for them.

"This is Charlotte, she knows the specifics about this house" Rick introduced the woman.

"Good afternoon, please come in" she told them.

She gave them a grand tour of the main house first. It was a modern house with a lot of natural light. The hall had multiple doors and a large stairs which led to the two floors above. One of the doors led to the formal living room and dining room, which was clearly meant to welcome guests. Another door brought them to the living quarters with another living room that had a large fireplace which could come in handy. A third door gave entrance to the kitchen, but there was also a door connecting it with the living room. It was large and had the newest appliances, while it also had a breakfast bar and a sitting area. In the kitchen there was another door that led towards a wine cellar that could hold over thousand bottles. On the second floor, there were three bedrooms that each had their own bathroom, it also had a library, gym/sauna and a sitting room. The third floor gave the master bedroom, which had a walk-in closet and a large bathroom attached. There was also a little sitting area in the master bedroom. The third floor also had a fourth and fifth bedroom with bathroom. In the cellar, there was a large room that had been used as dance/ballet room, which would be perfect for their training room.

When they went outside, they came on a terrace, that gave view to a large grass field, a pool and another smaller building.

"That is the guest house, it has three bedrooms and two bathroom, a little kitchen and living room" Charlotte explained.

"Alright, is there a place to park a car" Harry asked "Rick pointed out to us that we will probably need one.

"Yes, there's a garage on the side of the house which has room for three to four cars" Charlotte explained.

Harry nodded "Could you give us a moment?"

"Of course" Charlotte responded and she and Rick gave them some room.

Harry looked at Tonks and he saw in her eyes the excitement "I don't think we need to see other houses, do we?"

"No, I don't think so, this is really perfect" Tonks answered. "Let's see if we can buy it immediately"

They joined Charlotte and Rick and Tonks asked "We don't need to see other properties, can we buy this house immediately?"

"If you decide today, you could move in in approximately three to four days, depending on the solicitor" Charlotte answered. "It has been empty for quite a while"

"That would be perfect, thank you" Tonks told them.

"Alright, I'll give the paperwork to Rick and he'll help you with everything. Good luck in Los Angeles" Charlotte said.

Rick drove them back to the office and when they entered, one of Rick's colleagues mocked "Managed to find an apartment for them?"

"Actually, I'm just going to finalize the paperwork for a 5.5 million dollar house, thank you" Rick responded, successfully shutting him up.

Harry and Tonks grinned and followed Rick to his little cubicle.

"I should thank you, the bonus I'll get from this sell will probably shut them up for a while and it might help me climb up" Rick said.

"We were happy to help" Harry told him and he meant it. Rick had helped them out really well, so he earned it.

Rick let Tonks sign multiple papers, since it was officially she who was buying the house.

"If you want, I can arrange a hotel for you two in the meantime, that way I'll have a way to contact you when the purchase is finalized"

"Alright, that would be nice, we don't really know our way around here" Tonks answered.

When they were ready, he gave them directions to the hotel that was a few blocks away from there and Tonks and Harry left the building. In the hotel, they only had to check in and they were led to their room.

 **AN : Sorry for the late update, my next updates will also take a bit more time since I'm busy with an internship and exams.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us**

 ** _Warning! The next chapter needs the M rating..._**

Three days of sunbathing and relaxing on the beach later, they were called by Rick to say the sale was finalized and they could come to pick up the keys. He even drove them to the house, since they didn't had a way of transport themselves. He also thanked them for allowing him to make such a bonus and he told them that he had been happy to help them.

When Rick had left them, they went to open the front door and got in.

"Welcome home" Tonks said.

Harry just smiled and looked around in disbelief, still standing in the hallway. "I can't belief this is really ours"

"I Know… We should call the other resident of our home" Tonks said.

Harry nodded and called out "Dobby"

Dobby appeared immediately and Harry said "This will be our new home, I hope you like it?"

"Dobby likes it very much Harry" the elf said while jumping up and down at the prospect of being able to take care of such a big place.

"Come on, we should go and find a bedroom for you" Harry told the elf with a smile.

"That is not necessary mas… Harry, Dobby can always sleep in a closet or something like that"

"Nonsense, you will have your own room" Tonks said. "Why don't you go and look for yourself which room you want here in the house"

Dobby nodded and disappeared again. Harry and Tonks moved to the living room and went to sit down after conjuring a sofa.

"We'll have some work to personalize it a bit" Harry said "but I already like it"

"We should also ward the place" Tonks pointed out.

"I think that's a good idea, I've read about some wards that would be a good idea"

"Why don't you write them down, that way we can make a list to see how we can weave all the wards together" suggested Tonks. "If we use runes, then we should be able to make powerful wards around the entire property that stay activated"

"I really regret not taking Runes and Arithmancy, if I had known how handy they were, I would have taken those electives" Harry said.

Tonks kissed him and promised "If you want, then I can teach you about them, you are right that they are important"

Harry nodded and wanted to thank her when Dobby appeared again.

"Dobby has chosen the little bedroom on the second floor" the elf told them "Can Dobby help you with something"

"Is it possible to clean up the house a bit, there is quite a lot of accumulated dust around here" Harry asked.

"Of course, Dobby will start right away" and the house elf had disappeared again, bouncing from happiness.

"I'll start with putting a basic spell around the house that will camouflage the magic that is used here. It will help to avoid detection by the authorities. They would notice that we are living here if we used frequent magic" Tonks said and she pulled Harry with her to the garden.

"What would happen if they did?" Harry asked.

"Not that much, but we would have to register, and if we can avoid that, we should. It isn't necessary to register and it isn't illegal when you don't, but it would be best if we keep our tracks covered as much as we can" Tonks explained before she started repeating a spell over and over.

Harry saw how a slightly yellow dome appeared over the house, garden and guesthouse. Eventually it reached the ground, finalizing the raising of the ward and disappearing from sight.

"You still shouldn't perform magic, since underage magic wouldn't be stopped by this ward" Tonks told him.

Harry smiled and kissed her before he promised "I won't"

"Come on, we'll start with redecorating the most important room" Tonks said.

When she saw Harry looking at her questioning she clarified "Our bedroom" before she got a head start with running upstairs.

Harry was able to catch up with her on the third floor and they entered the master bedroom out of breath.

"I'm not that good with decorating spells, so we should eventually paint the rooms, but it should do the trick for now"

Harry came to stand behind her and wrapped his arms around her before he said "I'm sure everything will turn out perfectly, we'll see for a permanent solution later then"

Tonks shivered a bit by Harry's breath on her neck, but she managed to keep a clear head "What colors would you like?"

"How about some neutral colors like dark grey and a very light grey that is almost white, we can use accent colors in the decorations?" Harry suggested. "That way we can change the colors if we don't want a certain color anymore without repainting the entire room"

"That works for me" Tonks agreed. She started to perform the spells and even though she needed a few tried to do so, eventually one wall was dark grey, while the other walls were a very light grey, just like Harry had described. She had also transfigured the sheets on the bed to a dark blue.

Harry looked around in amazement "That looks great" he told her.

This time, Tonks couldn't control her reaction and turned around in Harry's arms to press her lips on his. Harry matched her movements and started to kiss her back passionately.

Harry's hands trailed to the seam of Tonks' t-shirt and after looking for confirmation, he pulled it over her head. He took a moment to take in her body before he kissed her again and started to kiss her neck and chest. Tonks then pulled out his jacket before she also released him from his t-shirt. It was when she was pressed against him, kissing him that she felt his enthusiasm pressing against her.

Insecurely her hands went to the waistband of Harry's trousers. Her hands shook a bit while she tried to open the button, so Harry took over and opened it. She did pull the zipper down and in the same motion, his pants too. Harry quickly kicked out of his trousers completely before he kissed Tonks again and started to open her shorts. After that piece of clothing had disappeared, Tonks took Harry hand and led him to the bed.

Tonks went to lay down first and Harry came after her, leaning on his hands while he hovered above her and kissed her neck again to end on her lips again. Tonks' hands trailed on Harry's chest and her hand rested for a moment on Harry's tattoo.

They continued kissing like that for a moment, until Tonks managed to flip Harry on his back so she had a little bit more control. Her lips started from his mouth, to his neck, where she nibbled for a moment on his earlobe, before going down where she kissed his chest. There she stopped for a moment and righted herself again. She looked down on Harry and saw in his eyes lust, love and devotion. Encouraged by this, she pulled her hands to her back and opened the hooks of her bra and with a deep breath, she removed it, leaving her bare chested.

Harry was immobilized by the sight, which made Tonks chuckle for a moment. She grabbed his hand and brought it to her breast and she held it there. Slowly, Harry came out of his stupor and his hand started to move a bit, exploring the new sensation, which Tonks was enjoying quite a bit. She lowered her head again to kiss him again, seeking entrance with her tongue. She had been a bit hesitant before, but that had vanished the moment she had seen the look in his eyes.

Enjoying the kiss, while Harry was exploring her breasts, she started to trail down with her hand, making him almost forget what they were doing. Harry paused their kiss for a moment, being startled by Tonks' action, before Tonks started to kiss him again, while slowly moving her hand. This time, a moan escaped from Harry's mouth from the pleasure he felt at her touch.

With a surge of Gryffindor courage, Harry's hand that had been discovering her breasts went down over her side to her back, which sent a shiver over her entire body. His other hand followed the curves of her body, until they were both at the little bit of fabric Tonks was still wearing. He hooked his hands in it and slowly, following her legs, he slid it down until Tonks further helped by removing it entirely only to do the same with his boxers.

Tonks lowered herself again, so their skin touched entirely and she felt him against her tights. She reveled in the knowledge that she had that effect on him. Going back to the kissing, she saw the point where Harry's fear also disappeared completely.

He carefully turned her in her back, so he was laying in her and trailed his hand down. He first massaged her breast, before he started to make circles around her nipple with his finger. A noise escaped from Tonks throat that made Harry want her even more. His hand slowly started to go down until he reached her tights. He teased her a bit by softly caressing the inside of her tights before his hand went up again and came into contact with something wet. He slowly moved his fingers there and felt Tonks ark her back under him, breathing deeper and deeper.

Tonks felt how the tension started to build in her body and wanted nothing more than knowing how it felt when Harry was inside of her. She gently stroked over his cheek, which made him look directly into her eyes.

Her eyes told her everything he needed to know, but wanting to be sure he asked with a very hoarse voice "Are you sure?"

"Yes" Tonks managed to make out.

Half an hour later, they were lying into each other's arms, covered in sweat. An outsider would have seen the faint glow that was coming from their bodies, but both Harry and Tonks only had eye for each other.

"I love you" Harry told her after he had caught his breath again.

"I love you too" Tonks said and kissed him again.

Harry observed her for a moment before he asked "Is everything okay?"

"It is more than okay Harry, I never thought I could feel like this"

Harry smiled and kissed her again before he said "You know what this means don't you?"

"What does this mean?" Tonks teased him.

"That I can call you Mrs. Potter now" and his smile became even bigger if that was possible.

A little shiver went through her body hearing him call her like that but she said, deciding to tease him a little more "Oh, I though you meant that you could perform magic now"

"I think calling you Mrs. Potter is even more important than the fact that I can perform magic now"

Tonks smiled, secretly very happy with his reply. The rest of the morning was spent in their new bed, reveling in the new closeness they had found with each other


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer : I do not own anything of the Harry Potter universe, it all belongs to JK Rowling, I just love writing about the fantastic universe she presented us**

 **I'm sorry I didn't upload another chapter sooner. There are no excuses, apart from the fact that I was really busy with school and other stuff. I'm almost graduated, so that will leave me with more time to write (hopefully), but know that I'm definitely not abandoning this story.**

 **Any mistakes are my own, but feel free to point them out to me so I can learn from them. In the year and a half break from this story, my knowledge of English grammar has improved a bit, so I will also review my previous chapters and try to fix as many grammar and spelling mistakes as possible.**

Around lunch, they both got out of bed and started with a shower before they went downstairs. When they got there, they were surprised about the state of the house. Everything was polished and cleaned.

"Wow, it looks even better now" Tonks commented. "Dobby must have worked non-stop to clean the house"

"Indeed, we should press it upon him that we want him to take breaks too" Harry said, not wanting that his loyal friend overworked himself.

Tonks gave Harry a small kiss, finding it really sweet how he treated Dobby. Not many wizards treated house elves like that and she was glad that Harry treated Dobby like a friend, instead of a servant. She had always been taught by her parents, they she should respect every creature, including house elves, but Harry actually went a step further than that.

They walked towards the living room, seeing that it was as clean as the hallway they had just seen. Harry shook his head slightly before he called Dobby.

When Dobby appeared, he wanted to say something, before his eyes became big and began to bounce even more if that was possible. "Harry and Tonks have finalized their bond. Dobby is very happy for them"

"Thank you Dobby" Tonks answered with a slight blush from thinking back how they had completed that bond.

"Do you like how the house looks now?" he asked a bit unsecure.

Harry crouched down so he was at the same level as Dobby before he replied with a soft smile "You have done really well Dobby, but I want you to promise me to not overdo yourself and to take some breaks while you work"

Dobby's ears folded a little bit and he would probably have blushed if he could. "Dobby will try to remember, but Dobby was just so excited at the prospect of cleaning such a nice house and for such a nice master that Dobby didn't think about pausing"

"I understand Dobby, and I'm not mad, but I just want you to take care of yourself… Can you promise me that?" Harry questioned.

Dobby nodded. "Dobby will do so Harry. Is there something Dobby can help you with?"

"Not for the moment Dobby, why don't you take a break while we go and search for a grocery store" Harry suggested, knowing that the elf would just start to work again if Harry didn't say otherwise.

Dobby just nodded before he disappeared. Harry then turned towards Tonks "Ready to look for some groceries, otherwise we'll probably get hungry"

Tonks couldn't help but laugh a bit. "Especially you, since you started eating a lot these past few weeks, but yes, you are right"

They left their house, locking it with the key, but Harry reveled in the fact that he was able to put a locking spell on it too. They walked around in the neighborhood for a while, noticing that every house also had quite a lot of land around it like theirs.

"We really are in a fancy neighborhood" Tonks couldn't help but voice out loud.

Harry grinned. "Imagine how they'll respond on two young people with green and blue hair moving into this area"

Tonks also had to laugh at that thought. "Guess we'll find out eventually"

They had to walk for another ten minutes and they had gotten weird looks when they had gotten into a more populated area, before they found a little grocery store.

They walked around and picked out a lot of food so they would last for a few days before they got to the cash register.

The shop assistant merely nodded and looked at them a little bit disapproving before he started to scan their goods. When he was done, he just said the amount and accepted Tonks' card. It was only then, noticing the kind of card Tonks payed with that he looked surprised and they even got a goodbye when they left.

"What a bigoted man" Tonks almost spat when they had walked a few yards.

Harry looked at her and saw her frustration, so he carefully set his bags on the ground and took her in his arms. "Don't let such a man get to you. It says more about him than about us"

Tonks nodded, knowing that he was right. When Harry saw that she had calmed down again, he picked up his bags and they continued their way back.

Once they were back at their house, they made their way to the kitchen and placed their purchases in the cupboard and fridge.

They then went back to the living room and looked around, seeing the empty space.

"We'll need to buy furniture as fast as possible… We were lucky that there was a bed in the master bedroom" Tonks pointed out.

Harry nodded. "We should do that today, but we should cook some food first"

The words had just left his mouth or Dobby appeared in the kitchen. "Dobby can cook lunch" he said a bit hopeful.

Harry laughed at the antics of their elf. "Sure, go ahead Dobby, a light meal would be nice"

"Okay, lunch will be ready in fifteen minutes, but I will need some utensils to prepare and serve the food" Dobby told them, and started ushering them out of the kitchen after Tonks and Harry had conjured him some pots and pans, together with some plates and cutlery.

"Why don't we look around and note what rooms we need furniture for" Tonks suggested, wanting to make sure they wouldn't need to go back too many times.

Harry kissed her as a response. "That's a good idea, but we'd better also buy stuff to cook and such" Harry said and he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the third floor where they would start, while Tonks was just nodding.

When they entered the master bedroom, Harry said, seeing the furniture that was in the room "Why don't we buy new furniture for this room too, I'm not such a fan of such a decorated pieces"

"You want furniture that is simpler?" Tonks inquired.

Harry blushed a bit. "Yes, I always like to look in the magazines my aunt bought about decorating and I preferred the simple more modern styles when I saw them…"

Tonks had a loving look towards Harry. "That is not something to be ashamed of Harry and you are lucky, since I don't object to some more modern furniture. The wizarding world in Britain might be very old fashioned, but my father is muggleborn so that helped in forming my style, don't forget" and she threw a wink towards him.

He smiled before they continued their tour around the house. When they were finished, they entered the kitchen again and the food was ready and waiting for them on the bar, which was the only place they could comfortably eat, since there wasn't a table or such in the dining room.

After a nice meal, they called a cab, knowing that they wouldn't find a furniture shop on their own and waited while it came, making another list of items they would also need in their house.

When they had finally left, they asked the cab driver to bring them to the nearest big furniture shop where they had high quality furniture. The driver looked at them a bit strangely, before he shrugged and started to drive, only mentioning that it would be while before they were there.

The cab driver had been right and it was only fifty minutes later that they were in front of a large store that clearly sold furniture.

Once they had entered, they immediately searched for a store clerk, since they knew they wouldn't be able do this job on their own. They had just found one and asked for his help when he snapped "Why would I help you, when we all know that you won't buy a thing here, since it's clearly above your stand"

Both Harry and Tonks were seething a little bit, hearing this. Especially since it was already the second time that day they had encountered bigots. They didn't care for money or where they found themselves in the hierarchy of stands, but they hated people that treated others like that.

Knowing that he wouldn't help them, they went to the cash register and spoke to the lady behind it. "We would like to speak with the manager of this store"

The woman frowned a bit, because that wasn't usually asked by customers, but she saw that the two people in front of her weren't happy customers, so she decided to get the manager anyway.

A few minutes later, a man in a business suit approached them, eying their appearance. "Good afternoon, what can I help you with today?"

"Good afternoon, we came to this store today because we wanted to furnish the new house we bought on Cristwell Road, but one of your store clerks just told us to go away since we clearly couldn't pay for what you sold here and we wanted to file a complaint…" Tonks just stated.

The store manager's eyes got bigger and bigger when he had heard where their house was located and was determined not to make the same mistake as his store clerk so he wouldn't lose his costumers. "I'm very sorry to hear that. I will get you the forms so you can file the complaint"

"Thank you, that would be nice" Tonks replied, already satisfied that the manager took them serious.

When the manager came back with the file, he led them to a little sitting area where they could take their time filling out the form with the manager helping them.

Once they were done with the complaint, the manager asked "Is there anything else I can do for you?"

Tonks looked at Harry for a moment, who nodded, before she responded "Yes, if you could provide us with a store clerk that wants to help us and provide us free transport to our house, then we'll buy our furniture here"

"That won't be a problem ma'am" and the manager quickly left them alone for a few minutes, only to come back with a middle aged woman.

"This is Rose, she'll help you with your purchases today. I'll make sure that we have a truck ready to transport your new furniture to your home" the man told them.

"Thank you, but I must warn you, one truck might not be enough, since we have around 30 rooms we have to furnish" Harry just pointed out, before they started to walk away, being followed by Rose.

"Could you tell me what rooms you need have furnished? That way we might be able to work a bit more efficient" she questioned.

Harry smiled softly at her. The woman reminded him a little bit of Mrs. Weasley. "Of course, we have a list here" and he handed her the list they had made in advance.

It was eventually six hours later that Harry and Tonks arrived back at their house, having gotten a lift with the trucks that transported their furniture. It had been a tedious task to find furniture for every room and they dreaded having to put them to place, but they were also glad with what they had accomplished.

When the furniture arrived at the house, it took them an hour and a half to get it all inside and it was obvious on the movers faces that they were glad they could just put it down on the ground floor. Not having to lift it to their respective rooms.

The moment the workers had left, Harry and Tonks got out their wands and started moving the furniture to where they wanted it, focusing on the living room and the kitchen. They had managed so that all furniture for one room was standing close together, making the task a little bit easier.

After they had decorated the living room and kitchen, they had gotten really hungry and all, even Dobby, not feeling up to it, they ordered some Chinese to be delivered.

They next couple of days, they mostly continued decorating the rooms, sometimes painting the walls to match the furniture or their taste. They also went to some shops to decorate the rooms even further with lamps, rugs, paintings and so on. Together with Dobby, they had made a list of all the utensils they would need at the house, especially in the kitchen and dining room and also gotten all that, since they couldn't keep conjuring plates and glasses.

It were hard days, but they kept up with the running they had started the month before, giving them a much needed break once in a while.

At that point, it was almost mid-August and they knew that Harry's disappearance would be noticed soon. They were anxious to what would happen, but knew that they had covered their tracks.

It did made them realize that they really needed to start training and studying for real, especially since Harry could also perform magic.


End file.
